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US nuclear umbrella for Taiwan: solid cross-strait shield or wishful thinking?
- Debate swirls after Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu suggests self-ruled island is in talks with the United States on the issue
- Some analysts point to added security, but others call the matter unrealistic, as it goes against long-held US policy of strategic ambiguity on Taiwan
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Lawrence Chungin Taipei
As Washington and Beijing ramp up their military signalling on Taiwan, the self-ruled island has started to discuss what was once unthinkable – to come under the US nuclear umbrella that has successfully protected Japan, South Korea and Australia for decades.
The debate was set off after Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu suggested on Monday that the island had been in talks with the United States on the nuclear umbrella issue.
Some local defence analysts argue that the island would be better off having such a shield, as extra security against any military assault from across the Taiwan Strait.
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But others say that seeking any such arrangement would be unrealistic, as it might require the US to adjust its decades-long “strategic ambiguity” on the issue of Taiwan. The island also has higher defence priorities like securing deals for advanced weapons, they say.
Strategic ambiguity is a deliberately vague US stand on defending Taiwan should it face armed conflict with Beijing, which sees the island as a breakaway territory that must be reunified – by force if necessay.
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Pressed by a lawmaker on whether Taiwan had indeed sought US protection given Beijing’s growing nuclear arsenal, Wu said: “Regarding the discussion of this issue with the United States, it is not suitable for me to make it public here.”
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