The Washington Post - USA (2022-05-24)

TUESDAY, MAY 24 , 2022. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ RE A

mittee.

Sullivan said the administra-

tion will pursue “deeper” bilater-

al trade relations with Taiwan

rather than including it in Tues-

day’s framework because doing

so “puts us in the best position

for us to be able to enhance our

economic partnership with Tai-

wan and also to carry IPEF

forward with this diverse range

of countries.”

To bring countries from

Southeast Asia, or the Associa-

tion of Southeast Asian Nations

(ASEAN), fully on board, the

United States must provide more

specifics about its vision, said

Fukunari Kimura, economics

professor at Keio University in

Tokyo and chief economist of the

Economic Research Institute for

ASEAN and East Asia.

Market access — lowering the

barrier for trade activity with the

United States — was an impor-

tant incentive to persuade South-

east Asian countries to join the

TPP.

Sen. Bill Hagerty (R-Tenn.),

the U.S. ambassador to Japan

under the Trump administra-

tion, also pointed to the lack of

provisions in the new trade

framework to boost market ac-

cess, even as allies in the region

are “eager to see more U.S.

economic leadership.”

On Tuesday, Biden’s final day

of his Asia trip, he is scheduled to

spend much of the day meeting

with other leaders from the Quad

nations.

The four democracies share

security and economic interests,

but the grouping exists for rea-

sons that mirror the purpose of

Biden’s first Asia trip as presi-

dent: to counter China’s growing

military and economic might.

Speaking shortly after he was

sworn in as Australia’s 31st

prime minister, Anthony Alba-

nese, who will participate in the

Quad summit, said the meeting

will send a message of “continu-

ity in the way that we have

respect for democracy and the

way that we value our friend-

ships and long-term alliances.”

Julia Mio Inuma in Tokyo, Lily Kuo in

Taipei, Michael E. Miller in Sydney

and Karoun Demirjian in

Washington contributed to this

report.

it is about offering a value propo-

sition that we think countries are

taking extremely seriously.”

But many officials throughout

Asia, including in Japan, are

wary of the U.S. rollout of its new

economic proposal. Japanese of-

ficials have said they are relieved

to see the United States reassert

itself economically in the Indo-

Pacific region but remain frus-

trated about President Donald

Trump’s 2017 pullout from the

Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Although it was Trump who

formally withdrew the United

States from that agreement, it

also lacked support from both

parties on Capitol Hill and would

not have been ratified. It’s un-

clear whether Congress would

have to greenlight any eventual

agreements created through this

new trade framework.

Standing next to Biden during

Monday’s news conference at

Akasaka Palace, Kishida repeat-

edly stressed Japan’s wish for the

United States to rejoin the TPP.

Meanwhile, many Asia-Pacific

countries are already participat-

ing in a free-trade agreement

involving China, called the Re-

gional Comprehensive Economic

Partnership.

The framework released by

the White House and the dozen

other countries Monday does not

include specific commitments or

requirements of what each na-

tion has to do to reap the benefits

of the pact.

The administration has also

faced questions about why Tai-

wan was excluded from the ini-

tial list of participating coun-

tries. Last week, a bipartisan

majority of 52 senators wrote to

Biden, pressing him to ensure

the self-governing island and

U.S. trading partner was a part of

the new framework and said

doing so was an economic and

military imperative.

Excluding Taiwan “would sig-

nificantly distort the regional

and global economic architec-

ture, run counter to U.S. eco-

nomic interests, and allow the

Chinese government to claim

that the international communi-

ty does not in fact support mean-

ingful engagement with Taiwan,”

stated the letter, which was writ-

ten by the two leaders of the

Senate Foreign Relations Com-

Trans-Pacific Partnership, nego-

tiated during the Obama admin-

istration when Biden was vice

president.

The dozen countries in the

new pact with the United States

are Australia, Brunei, India, In-

donesia, Japan, South Korea, Ma-

laysia, New Zealand, the Philip-

pines, Singapore, Thailand and

Vietnam. The countries account

for 40 percent of global gross

domestic product, according to

the administration.

“It is by any account the most

significant international eco-

nomic engagement that the Unit-

ed States has ever had in this

region,” Commerce Secretary

Gina Raimondo said.

The intended audience of the

announcement was clear, even

though Biden, during the launch

event Monday, did not specifical-

ly name China. The representa-

tives from the other 12 nations

were also careful not to single

out the country in their own

remarks.

Administration officials have

pointed to economic data show-

ing that the U.S. economy had

grown faster than China’s for the

first time in four decades as

proof that partnering with the

United States would be a more

alluring option for other Indo-

Pacific nations.

“Our view is that this is not

about a zero-sum game with

China,” national security adviser

Jake Sullivan said. “It’s not about

forcing countries to choose. But

of Seven counterparts to stand

up to acts of force, out of fear that

the lack of a strong response

risks emboldening China’s grow-

ing assertiveness and the wors-

ening of relations between China

and Taiwan. Japan is now mov-

ing toward increasing its defense

budget, which is a sensitive topic

because of country’s militaristic

past.

The world’s third-largest econ-

omy, Japan has taken uncharac-

teristically swift steps to join

Western allies in financially

pressuring Russia and aiding

Ukraine. Last week, Tokyo com-

mitted an additional $300 mil-

lion in short-term support to

Ukraine, on top of the more than

$200 million it had already

pledged. Japan accepted more

than 1,000 people fleeing

Ukraine — an eye-popping figure

for a country that has historically

been unfriendly to refugees.

Kishida, elected prime minis-

ter in the fall, has received high

marks at home for his decisions

— 71.2 percent of the public

supports his response to the

Russian invasion, according to a

survey released Sunday by Kyodo

News, a Japanese outlet.

Part of the U.S.-Japanese re-

sponse to China’s rise is the

launch of the Indo-Pacific Eco-

nomic Framework, the contours

of a new agreement that is

designed to be a bulwark against

China. The administration says it

improves on the political and

substantive shortcomings of the

price for that in terms of the

sanctions that have been im-

posed,” Biden said during a news

conference with Japanese Prime

Minister Fumio Kishida at Aka-

saka Palace. “If in fact there’s a

rapprochement met between...

the Ukrainians and Russia, and

these sanctions are not contin-

ued to be sustained in many

ways, then what signal does that

send to China about the cost of

attempting to take Taiwan by

force?”

The Biden administration lat-

er announced the outlines of a

new trade framework that is

meant to strengthen U.S. eco-

nomic ties with Indo-Pacific na-

tions other than China, and on

Tuesday Biden will participate in

a summit of the Quad, the part-

nership made up of the United

States, India, Japan and Aus-

tralia that is meant in part to

counter China’s power globally.

Taken together, Monday’s

rhetoric and accompanying

events underscored the adminis-

tration’s aggressive strategy to

blunt Beijing’s rising influence.

Though the president said he did

not expect China to invade Tai-

wan, Biden said that China was

“already flirting with danger.”

Taiwanese Foreign Ministry

spokeswoman Joanne Ou said

her agency “sincerely welcomed”

Biden’s comments, but the Chi-

nese ministry’s spokesman Wang

Wenbin expressed his govern-

ment’s “strong dissatisfaction

and firm opposition” to them.

Beijing claims Taiwan is an in-

alienable part of its territory.

“No one should underestimate

the strong determination, firm

will and formidable ability of the

Chinese people,” Wang said at a

regular press briefing, according

to the state-run Global Times.

At Monday’s summit, Biden

and Kishida also reinforced their

commitment to the alliance and

their cooperation on responding

to the Russian war.

Japan has adopted a more

proactive foreign policy since

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine,

which triggered a deep alarm

that has accelerated Japan’s on-

going debate over defense and

security policies amid China’s

growing territorial threat.

Japan has been determined to

show it can work with its Group

the entire region and be another
action similar to what happened
in Ukraine. And so it’s a burden
that’s even stronger.”
A White House official said
Biden’s comments simply reiter-
ated a pledge made through a
1979 law that the United States
would provide Taiwan with the
military means for self-defense.
But in the current context — a
presidential visit to Seoul and
Tokyo and the West’s urgent
confrontation with Russia over
Ukraine — the words had a more
powerful resonance and prompt-
ed reactions by various countries
in the region.
The United States has long
maintained a policy of strategic
ambiguity toward Taiwan, mean-
ing it is deliberately unclear
what it would do if it comes to
defending Taiwan. The “One Chi-
na” policy is a long-standing bit
of diplomatic legerdemain under
which the United States recog-
nizes China’s position that there
is only one Chinese government,
but does not accept Beijing’s
view that Taiwan is under its
rightful control.
The White House official, who
spoke on the condition of ano-
nymity to clarify Biden’s com-
ments, said the U.S. stance has
not changed.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Aus-
tin played down the president’s
comments as unremarkable, say-
ing Biden had merely reiterated
existing policy including the
“One China” policy. Biden restat-
ed “our commitment to peace
and stability across the Taiwan
Strait,” Austin said, while high-
lighting “our commitment under
the Taiwan Relations Act to help
provide Taiwan the means to
defend itself.”
He added, “I think the presi-
dent was clear on the fact that
the policy has not changed.”
But given that Russia’s conten-
tion that Ukraine is simply a
renegade region echoes China’s
position on Taiwan, the presi-
dent’s comments Monday took
on the tone of a global doctrine
that autocracies should not be
allowed to swallow up smaller
nations by declaring them rebel-
lious provinces.
“Russia has to pay a long-term

BIDEN FROM A

U.S. would defend Taiwan from Chinese attack, Biden says

EVAN VUCCI/ASSOCIATED PRESS

President Biden speaks with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio

Kishida during a bilateral meeting Monday in Tokyo.

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