The Obama Whirlwind Will Create A Win-Win-Win for U.S., China and Taiwan

On the 20th of January Eastern Standard Time all eyes were on Obama, the 44th president of America, as he was sworn into office and delivered his inaugural speech. Today Taiwan Thinktank held a related forum at which attending academics agreed that once Obama takes office, he will enhance the use of “smart power,” which will be beneficial for U.S.-China-Taiwan relations, creating a three-way win-win-win situation.

Today’s forum entitled “Obama’s inauguration and prospects for U.S.-Asia Pacific Policy” organized by Taiwan Thinktank and hosted by Chih-Cheng Lo, Head of the Politics Department at Soochow University, was attended by academics including Cheng-Yi Lin, Research Fellow at the Taiwan Academia Sinica Institute of European and American Studies, Professor Wen-hsien Chen of the National Chengchi University Graduate Institute of Taiwan History, Professor I-hsin Chen of Tamkang University Graduate Institute of American Studies and Alexander Chieh-cheng Huang Associate Professor at Tamkang University Graduate Institute of International Affairs and Strategic Studies.

Academics attending the forum believe that once Obama takes office the issues he must confront include resolving the global financial tsunami, the withdrawal of troops from Iraq and Iraq war issues, as well as U.S.-China problems.

They also believe that the fact that Obama spoke about “smart power” in his speech shows that Obama’s government will more flexibly utilize all foreign policy tools available to them, whereas in the past, U.S. government foreign policy has traditionally chosen between “hard power” and “soft power.”

Academics at the forum felt that the Obama administration would be good for U.S.-China-Taiwan relations, helping to create a win-win-win situation. The former Asia adviser to the Clinton administration has been appointed by the Obama administration to handle Asia Pacific Policy. However, when dealing with Cross-Straits issues, it was felt that the Taiwan policy previously used by the Clinton Administration should not be used as a framework for dealing with current U.S.-China-Taiwan relations, as cross-straits relations have now improved.