Rep. Claudia Tenney, R-N.Y., is calling for “strategic clarity” about our defense of Taiwan against any possible China takeover.
In an interview aired on Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” Tenney mocked the confusion over President Joe Biden’s remark that we would fight a China incursion in Taiwan — which sparked a walk-back by the State Department.
But she said Biden is right.
“We have a policy of strategic ambiguity when it comes to Taiwan,” she said. “I think it is dangerous and I think we need to go back to a strategic clarity. We need to show we are going to support Taiwan. If we don't the Chinese are only empowered.”
“They been using military actions on the straits between Taiwan and China, and we know they are getting aggressive. They are seeing an opening just like [Russian President Vladimir] Putin saw an opening [in Ukraine],” she added.
According to Tenney, former President Donald Trump was proactive, though not “a Pat Buchanan isolationist.”
“President Trump's more Jacksonian, more like a peace through strength — that Reagan type of doctrine,” she said.
“If we are not taking action to defend our allies and defend strategic assets, we are projecting weakness and inviting provocation and inviting eventually war which is what we saw in Ukraine,” she warned.
“We have a Taiwan Relations Act which is a little bit vague," she said, adding we "need to be really clear.”
“We said we will come to the defense of Taiwan —that is in the Taiwan Relations Act that was signed in 1979 under, believe it or not, Jimmy Carter,” she pointed out, warning: “The Chinese are moving in and taking advantage. They are teaming up with our allies. I think this is an important distinction where we are talking about what are we doing with Taiwan. Is it just economic relations? Is it just One China Policy? Are we going to recognize Taiwan as a separate sort of big entity?”
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Fran Beyer ✉
Fran Beyer is a writer with Newsmax and covers national politics.
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