Taipei, March 11 (CNA) Taiwan’s top intelligence chief on Monday said the United States’ stance of containing China and maintaining a Taiwan-friendly approach is expected to continue regardless of whether President Joe Biden or former President Donald Trump wins the race for the top job in November.
National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) told lawmakers during the Foreign Affairs and National Defense Committee session in Taipei that a major difference between the two in terms of diplomacy is that Trump upholds unilateralism while Biden embraces multilateralism.
He had been asked by multiple lawmakers what the two potential outcomes of the highly likely Trump-Biden rematch could mean for Taiwan.
Regarding their policy on cross-strait matters, however, Tsai said both the Democrats and Republicans see Beijing as a major competitor and are doing their best to contain China.
Trump and Biden both approved more than 10 rounds of arms sales to Taiwan during their respective presidencies, Tsai said.
“This shows that no matter who wins the U.S. presidential election, Washington’s policy of containing China while remaining friendly toward Taiwan is not expected to majorly change,” the NSB chief added.
Meanwhile, regarding increasing cross-strait tensions, Tsai said the Chinese Communist Party’s (CPC) “carrot and stick” approach to Taiwan is expected to ramp up in the run-up to May 20, when President-elect Lai Ching-te (賴清德) will be inaugurated as the nation’s new leader.
Despite the frictions between Taipei and Beijing, which intensified recently due to the capsizing of a boat on Feb. 14 off the coast of Kinmen which led to the death of two Chinese fishermen, Tsai assured lawmakers and the Taiwanese public that there was no suggestion that a cross-strait war would erupt imminently.
According to Tsai, CPC pressure toward Taiwan is multifaceted and includes military threats, political infiltration, economic coercion and cognitive warfare.
Militarily, the People’s Liberation Army is normalizing its coercion around Taiwan by holding drills involving joint warships and warplanes in the Taiwan Strait every seven to 10 days, he added.
