Former Secretary of State Pompeo calls on U.S. to recognize Taiwan independence

By Bill Gertz
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday called on the U.S. and the international community to recognize Taiwan as an independent state.

“It is time for the United States to lead boldly, act justly, and recognize Taiwan as the independent and sovereign nation it truly is,” Mr. Pompeo, who served as the top American diplomat in the Trump administration, said in a speech in Taiwan.

“This is not just a diplomatic gesture — it is a recognition of reality, a stand for justice, and a stride towards global stability,” he said.

Mr. Pompeo said the basis for Washington’s relations with Beijing, known as the three joint communiques, has evolved since first formulated in the late 1970s.

The main issue has been who represents China, with the mainland claiming sole legitimate representation of all China.

But Taiwan long ago stopped competing with China on that claim, and since the late 1990s Taiwan has forged its own identity that is overwhelmingly backed by its people, Mr. Pompeo said.

House lawmakers arrive in Taiwan amid Chinese government’s threats Nationalist forces fled the mainland in 1949 during a civil war with the communists and continue to hold the view that the Kuomintang Party remains the legitimate leader of all China.

Now, a large majority of Taiwanese identify solely with Taiwan, not China, Mr. Pompeo said.

“The call for Taiwan’s diplomatic recognition by the United States is thus a call to affirm this existing reality,” he said.

“Taiwan governs itself democratically. It controls its territory, engages in international trade, and more importantly, it does so as a separate entity from the People’s Republic of China. None of Taiwan’s territory is under the PRC’s sovereign or administrative control. To suggest otherwise is not only misleading but flies in the face of the observable facts,” Mr. Pompeo said.

Mr. Pompeo was in Taiwan this week to attend the inauguration of new President Lai Ching-te, also known as William Lai, of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party.

The former secretary of state, speaking at a meeting of the Formosa Republican Association in Taipei, said that for decades Beijing has falsely stated that the U.S. position in the three communiques is that Taiwan is part of China. But the acknowledgment never meant the U.S. agreed with that posture, he said.

“This deliberate ambiguity, while once a strategic buffer, now serves more to embolden Beijing’s aggressive posture toward Taiwan and mislead the international community,” Mr. Pompeo said.

The strategic ambiguity policy of the United States has served its purpose but should be jettisoned in favor of full diplomatic recognition, Mr. Pompeo said.

Taiwan’s system includes a democratically elected government and contrasts sharply with the communist regime in Beiing that does not reflect the consent of the government, a key tenet of legitimate government.

Also, recognizing Taiwan as an independent state aligns with the founding principles of the United States, such as support for popular sovereignty, democracy and international law.

Official U.S. recognition of Taiwan would correct a historical oversight that grew out of negotiations that led up to America’s recognition of Beijing in 1979 and derecognition of Taipei, Mr. Pompeo said.

Diplomatic recognition would also bolster democratic values that are under threat from Chinese-style communism.

“This action would affirm the U.S.’s commitment to democracy and international law and provide a stronger foundation for Taiwan to resist any unilateral attempts to alter its status by force,” Mr. Pompeo said.

“Recognizing Taiwan is not merely a policy adjustment — it is a moral imperative, a strategic necessity, and a rightful acknowledgment of the democratic processes that define a true, sovereign state,” he said.

Mr. Pompeo also said it is a matter of “profound urgency” for the U.S. to defend Taiwan from a potential Chinese invasion.

“This is not merely a choice — it is an imperative rooted in legal, moral, strategic, and economic foundations,” he said.

President Biden has said several times that U.S. troops would defend Taiwan if China takes military action against the island, which is about 100 miles off the southern China coast.

Any failure to defend the island would undermine U.S. credibility to support its allies around the world and likely would set off a major nuclear arms race in the region, Mr. Pompeo said.

“All in all, defending Taiwan is not merely about protecting a small island democracy; it’s about preserving a strategic frontier, upholding international law, safeguarding economic interests, and maintaining global peace and stability,” he said.

China catching up to U.S. in precision navigation
China and the U.S. are engaged in a battle for dominance in satellite-based positioning, navigation and timing, known as PNT, and Beijing is catching up to America’s Global Positioning System with its BeiDou satellite PNT.

In 2020, China completed the deployment of its BeiDou 3 global navigation satellite system, which is similar to GPS, according to a report published by the China Aerospace Studies Institute, an Air Force think tank.

China’s government is vowing to “gain a competitive edge” in satellite-based PNT with greater accuracy. It regards BeiDou as a key instrument of national power and power projection capabilities, the report said.

The system is used to guide and target China’s vast array of missiles and drones, the report said.

Militarily, BeiDou is central to the People’s Liberation Army’s fundamental concept of multi-domain, precision warfare. The satellite system supports precision strikes, movement of forces, communications, and situational awareness.

Advanced satellite navigation will provide the Chinese military with more freedom of action to use force, the report said.

“BeiDou’s global coverage will better enable the PLA to operate and conduct strikes globally, especially in the Western Pacific, South Asia, the Middle East, and Africa,” the report said.

The study was produced under contract by another defense think tank, CNA, and written by its China space expert, Kevin Pollpeter.

Ideologically, BeiDou is viewed by the Chinese Communist Party as enhancing its reputation and system of governance, the report said.

“The CCP can claim that the successful completion of BeiDou demonstrates the superiority of ‘socialism with Chinese characteristics’ and helps legitimize the CCP’s authoritarian governance model,” the report said.

China is also working with Russia on joint satellite navigation in what state media has said is an effort to “break the hegemonic position” of U.S. GPS, which is widely used around the world.

“In sum, BeiDou assists the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in achieving its goals of increasing the country’s national power and ushering in a multipolar world and extends the competition between the United States and the PRC to the field of satellite PNT,” the report said.

“If PRC plans are successful, BeiDou will enable China’s military to conduct precision strikes against adversaries and could lead to the loss of international influence for the United States and expand market opportunities for PRC commerce,” the study said.

BeiDou is closing the gap with GPS in terms of technology and political acceptance. It boasts more than 2 billion users with better than 9-meter positioning accuracy and in some cases 5-meter accuracy, the report said.

GPS has more than 6 billion users and can pinpoint items with 4.9-meter accuracy. It has both military and civilian signals.

The Chinese satellites are also in high geosynchronous orbit, providing better signals in urban and mountain areas, compared with the 24 GPS satellites in medium-altitude orbits.

GPS is being modernized with plans for 22 third-generation satellites that are three times as accurate and eight times as resistant to electronic jamming than earlier satellites.

China sanctions former Rep. Gallagher
Beijing on Wednesday imposed sanctions on former Rep. Mike Gallagher, the Wisconsin Republican who until recently was chairman of the House Select Committee on the Chinese Communist Party that for the past two years has exposed nefarious Chinese activities and operations.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said Mr. Gallagher, “driven by selfish interest and bias,” had “grossly interfered in China’s internal affairs.”

His select committee activities “undermined China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, disrupted China-U.S. relations and harmed China’s interests as well as the common interests of China and the U.S.,” Mr. Wang said.

The sanctions bar the lawmaker from visiting China and bar organizations from cooperating with him.

Mr. Gallagher, now with the Hudson Institute, said the sanctions were a failed attempt to silence criticism of the Chinese Communist Party.

“These sanctions reveal at least two important things about the CCP and the new Cold War,” he said.

“First, we are dealing with a perpetually paranoid, Marxist-Leninist regime fully committed to an ‘extended struggle’ and victory against such hostile foreign forces as Western constitutional democracy, universal human rights, and freedom of speech,” he said.

Also, there is no moral equivalence between the Chinese Communist Party and the United States since U.S. sanctions on party officials are imposed for their role in “committing genocide and trafficking deadly fentanyl precursor chemicals,” he said.

In a separate action, Beijing on Wednesday imposed sanctions on 12 U.S. military-linked companies and senior executives for supplying arms to Taiwan and in retaliation for American sanctions on Chinese companies.

The companies hit with the sanctions include Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and General Dynamics, according to Reuters.

The sanctions include freezing assets in China and barring senior executives from traveling to the country.

The ministry said in a statement the sanctions follow U.S. sanctions on Chinese companies linked to support for the Russian military.

U.S. arms sales to Taiwan were also noted, with the ministry stating that American weapons undermined Chinese sovereignty and territorial integrity.