‘ZIG AND ZAG’:Some in Washington fear that raising the issue of the intimidation of Taiwan by Beijing would divert attention from other issues, such as climate change

Taipei Times
Date:  Dec 11, 2015
By: William Lowther  /  Staff reporter in WASHINGTON

US attention to Taiwan is “weak” and is likely to remain that way even if Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Chairperson Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) is elected president next month, a leading academic in Washington said this week.

US President Barack Obama and his administration will not change course as a result of the elections, but will continue “steady as they go” said Robert Sutter, the Professor of Practice of International Affairs at The George Washington University and an expert on US policy toward Asia and the Pacific, Taiwan and Chinese foreign relations.

He told a university conference, titled “Voting for Change? The Impact of Taiwan’s Upcoming Elections,” on Tuesday that the White House would avoid issues with Taiwan that might worsen current “fraying” relations with China.

Sutter said that US-China relations “zig and zag” and that it was unlikely that Washington would change its Taiwan policies following Tsai’s expected victory.

Disputes with Beijing were clearly secondary to other foreign policy issues, including the Islamic State group and Russia, he said.     [FULL  STORY]