‘Rock-solid support’: Taiwan hails American delegation as sign of ‘bipartisan consensus’ in US

Visit by former military and security officials is a show of ‘commitment from the US for Taiwan’, says island’s foreign ministry
Debate swirls over the lack of US ‘boots on the ground’ in Ukraine during Russia’s invasion and potential implications for Taiwan in a cross-strait conflict

Taiwan

Lawrence Chungin Taipei

Published: 9:00pm, 1 Mar 2022

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A group of former top American military and security officials has arrived in Taiwan on a US government plane for a whirlwind 30-hour visit amid fears Beijing might attack the island while the US is busy with the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

The group was sent by the White House and landed at Taipei’s Songshan Airport late on Tuesday afternoon before being whisked away by a motorcade formed by the US de facto embassy in Taipei.

The delegation is led by Michael Mullen, a former chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff during the George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations.

Also in the delegation are former under secretary of defence for policy Michèle Flournoy, former White House deputy national security adviser Meghan O’Sullivan and Michael Green and Evan Medeiros, who both served as special assistants to the president and senior director for Asian affairs at the National Security Council.

The group, whose visit was only announced after the officials boarded the plane, arrived as debate grew on the island about whether the US would remain hands off in the event of a cross-strait conflict, given the US administration’s decision not to send troops to Ukraine.

Michael Mullen (third from right) former US chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, leads a delegation in Taiwan. He is pictured with the delegates and Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu (fourth from right).

Although the US has condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, President Joe Biden has made clear the US will not put American troops in danger by sending forces to fight Russia in Ukraine.

Taiwan has hailed the visit as proof of “rock-solid US support”.

“The foreign ministry extends its sincere welcome to the important visit made by the delegation,” ministry spokeswoman Joanne Ou said in Taipei on Tuesday.

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The visit came after the Biden government sent former US senator Christopher Dodd to the island in April.

Ou said that sending another high-level delegation to Taiwan in less than a year “demonstrates the rock-solid support and commitment from the US for Taiwan, especially at a time when the situation in Ukraine was harsh”.

“It also shows the Taiwan issue has the bipartisan consensus in the US,” she said, referring to US security commitment to the island.

White House Indo-Pacific policy coordinator Kurt Campbell said the visit by the unofficial delegation was intended to underscore the US desire to maintain peace and stability in the region.

Speaking on Monday at an online event organised by the US think tank The German Marshall Fund and addressing US-Europe cooperation in Asia, Campbell said the Biden government would show its determination in the coming months to high-level engagement in the Indo-Pacific region.

The delegation is expected to stay until Wednesday evening. It plans to meet Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, Defence Minister Chiu Kuo-cheng and other senior officials to exchange views on cross-strait, military and security issues, government officials on the island said.

The trip follows a recent pattern of US administrations directing or aiding high-level delegations – generally made up of retired officials or serving lawmakers – to Taiwan, with which the US does not have official diplomatic relations.

02:02

US delegation visits Taiwan as Beijing warns of military action against the island

Wen-Ti Sung, a lecturer on international relations and China studies at the Australian National University, said the group was sent to assure Taiwan the US would not back off its support for the island.

“Taiwan is having varying interpretations about the absence of US ‘boots on the ground’ or direct military intervention in Ukraine and whether that bodes well for the prospect of American security assistance to Taiwan, especially in a cross-strait conflict,” he said.

“The US delegation is here to reassure Taiwan that US commitment to Taiwan remains ‘rock solid’, and they will also likely be communicating Taiwan’s place in the Biden administration’s new ‘Indo-Pacific strategy’.

“The bipartisan nature of the delegation also signals that US support for Taiwan is bipartisan,” he said.

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Asked how their visit compared with a separate visit by former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo, who was expected to arrive in Taiwan on Wednesday, Sung said the delegation was made up of national security officials, whereas Pompeo was a career politician who was likely to have further electoral aspirations.

“Mike Pompeo is also widely seen in Taiwan as an uber-Taiwan friendly China hawk, and Taiwan will be interested in cultivating relationships with him, not just for policy coordination but also for tapping into the congressional GOP networks,” Sung said.

Foreign ministry spokeswoman Ou said the group and Pompeo were visiting at different times so there would be no interaction between them.

The group’s visit has irked Beijing which views Taiwan as a renegade province that must ultimately be brought under its own control, by force if necessary. Beijing has warned the US and other countries against having official contact with the island.

In Beijing on Tuesday, mainland foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said any attempts to support Taiwan were bound to be futile. He urged the US to “handle the Taiwan issue prudently” and “refrain from further harming US-China relations”.

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