Indian American US presidential candidate Ramaswamy calls for ‘strategic clarity’ on Taiwan

Washington, Sep 4 (PTI) The US embraces a policy that fails to recognise Taiwan as a nation and adopts the posture of “strategic ambiguity” over whether or not it will defend the East Asian country against a Chinese invasion, Indian American Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has said.

Beijing considers Taiwan as its breakaway province and insists it should be unified with the mainland, by force if necessary. Taiwan, however, sees itself as completely distinct from China.

“It is vital for US national security interest to ensure that China does not acquire sole control of the global semiconductor supply chain,” Ramaswamy said in a statement on Sunday amidst increasing tension with China on the Taiwan issue.

“Accordingly, the US should shift from strategic ambiguity to strategic clarity: commit to affirmatively defend Taiwan against Chinese annexation until the US achieves semiconductor independence, at which point the US should resume its current posture of strategic ambiguity,” he said.

Last week, the Biden Administration approved a military transfer of USD 80 million to Taiwan under the Foreign Military Financing (FMF), a programme typically used for sovereign states.

In response, a state-run newspaper in China stated that the US had crossed a red line with “lethal consequences.”

The Vivek campaign said at present, the US embraces the “One China” Policy, which fails to recognise Taiwan as a nation and adopts the posture of “strategic ambiguity” about whether or not the US will defend Taiwan against an invasion.

This creates mutual confusion with China about red lines and increases the risk of major conflict between the US and China, a risk that is heightened in the near term when the entire US economy and modern way of life rely on leading-edge semiconductors manufactured in Taiwan, the campaign said.

“In the meantime, Taiwan can double its own military expenditures to a more rational four to five of GDP while the US bolsters its own military and economic alliances with India, Japan, and South Korea and fortifies our own homeland defense capabilities including but not limited to a nuclear missile, super-EMP, and cyber defenses,” Ramaswamy said.

“This is how we can stop Chinese aggression and advance vital long-run US interests while avoiding World War III. I am the only US Presidential candidate in either political party who has offered a clear vision for how to achieve this goal,” said the Republican presidential candidate.

Meanwhile, a super political action committee associated with Republican presidential candidate and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has privately told his donors that all the attacks in recent days over Ramaswamy, his primary rival, were being carried by them, a media report said on Sunday.

“Everything you read about him is from us. Every misstatement, every 360 he’s conducting or 180 that he is going through in life, is from our scrutiny and pressure,” according to a report in Politico newspaper.

“And so, he’s not going to go through that very well, and that will get worse for him,” Jeff Roe, the leader of the DeSantis-aligned Never Back Down told the gathering of donors.

The quotes are part of an audio tape obtained by Politico from the speech of Roe with the donors of DeSantis just before last month’s Republican presidential primary debate.

Ramaswamy, 38, outshone the rest of the presidential opponents at the debate stage.

The Ramaswamy campaign has slammed the DeSantis campaign for this.

“When DeSantis’s Super Pac campaign, Chris Christie, the New York Times, MSNBC and the rest of the bipartisan establishment are all going after you at the same time, you know you’re right over the target. “America watched Vivek dominate the debate stage, it’s no wonder Never Back Down is pissing away another $20+ million after Labor Day,” Ramaswamy spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin was quoted as saying.

According to the report, Row told the donors that Ramaswamy would not be able to go through the avalanche of dirt thrown at him.

“He will not go through the discovery, scrutiny and decline phase of presidential politics very well. His scrutiny phase, we are putting him through it right now,” he said. Roe indicated that his campaign against Ramaswamy would intensify after Labour Day.