James Gilmore, former US ambassador to the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), assured that the US will not revoke its support to Taiwan against China, regardless of the outcome of November’s US presidential elections, Nikkei Asia reported.
The election and the prospect of a second Donald Trump presidency has stirred global debate — and anxiety — over whether Washington would adopt a more isolationist stance under his “America First” slogan. The stakes are particularly high for Taiwan, the front line of Sino-American tensions.
But Trump’s former ambassador Gilmore, while talking to the people in Taipei on Monday said that the notion of the US being an “undependable ally” is a “deliberate lie” being disseminated by adversaries who “wish to create a dark future.”
“My job as ambassador was to reassure allies, because, so many people are trying to teach our allies and the citizens of our allies that America is not dependable and that we cannot lead because we are divided,” Gilmore said at a forum sponsored by the Taipei-based think tank Center for Asia-Pacific Resilience and Innovation (CAPRI).
The former ambassador under the Donald Trump administration, further reiterated that Washington’s commitment to Taiwan is not going to change.
Gilmore, in his statement, said that Trump will be more supportive of Taiwan if he becomes US president, Nikkei Asia reported.
While discussing the tensions rising in the Taiwan Strait and the broader region of the South China Sea, he said, “I think the source of all problems is President Xi’s belligerence. If he wasn’t so angry and determined to be an aggressor, many of these problems would go away.”
The US politician added that the US had extended its help to China during the tenure of Richard Nixon for the development of China, however, that has backfired, and it is saddening.
Since 1979, the US has maintained a “One China” policy that acknowledges Beijing’s position that there is a single China but does not endorse its sovereignty over Taiwan, while refraining from endorsing Taiwanese independence as well, Nikkei Asia reported.
However, Beijing insists under its “One China” principle that Taiwan is part of its territory, even though the Communist Party has never ruled the Island nation.
Although Gilmore repeated that he cannot speak on behalf of Trump or the US government, due to his current capacity as a private citizen, he explained that the former president’s pet phrase “America First” is not equivalent to “America alone”.
He added that Washington is willing to work with allies on issues such as hybrid warfare, emphasising, “The US is better able to cope with these challenges if we have strong allies who are friendly and making themselves strong.”