Miles Yu highlights Taiwan's role in global bulwark against China

Taipei, Jan. 8 (CNA) Historian Miles Yu (余茂春) said Wednesday that the global bulwark against China will be fortified during U.S. President-elect Donald Trump's second term while highlighting Taiwan's role in such an effort.

Trump, who is set to take office on Jan. 20 (Washington time), will adopt a more "comprehensive and global" approach to "countering China" than the outgoing Joe Biden administration, Yu said during a talk in Taipei.

Yu, who served as former United States Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's China policy adviser during Trump's first presidency, said Taiwan-U.S. relations could be a critical component of this global bulwark against China, and he encouraged Taipei to align itself with Washington.

He went on to say that the U.S. had taken steps to restrict exports of advanced chips and chipmaking equipment to China, but such an effort would not succeed without the cooperation of Washington's allies.

Yu, who is currently a senior fellow and director of the China Center at Hudson Institute, said Taiwan's cooperation was important and that working with the U.S. would thus contribute to bilateral relations.

On the defense front, he continued, Taiwan increasing its defense spending and showing its will to defend itself would also align with the U.S. defense policy.

Yu also deemed it unlikely that other countries could stay neutral as the rivalry between the U.S. and China continues, cautioning against attempts to gain from strengthening ties with the U.S. and China simultaneously.

The talk, where Yu was joined by former Taiwanese Defense Minister Michael Tsai (蔡明憲) and Academia Sinica's historian Shiu Wen-tang (許文堂), was organized by the Taiwan Association of University Professors.