Washington’s transactional Taiwan policy puts Indo-Pacific at risk, ex-US officials warn

Washington’s policy towards Taiwan is increasingly tied to its relationship with Beijing, according to former US officials who also warn that the war in Iran is weakening US military readiness for a potential conflict in the Taiwan Strait.

Christensen said that while the security relationship between the US and Taiwan remained “very robust”, there was “a huge increase in US demands for burden sharing, or for Taiwan to do more of its own production of weapon systems and increase defence spending”.

He also said there was a big increase in demand for Taiwan’s hi-tech investment in the United States.