Prakash Nanda
Colby is reportedly the loudest among Trump officials who have argued that the U.S. focus should shift away from Europe and Russia and be concentrated on China and its growing challenges in the Indo-Pacific.
For him, nothing else in the international system is as fundamentally dangerous to U.S. interests as a possible Chinese “hegemony” over the Indo-Pacific, “dramatically undermining Americans’ security, freedom, and prosperity”.
However, if Colby faced tough questions during his confirmation hearings in the Senate Armed Services Committee meeting last week, that too from Republican Senators led by Tom Cotton (R-Ark), it was about his “shifting” thoughts about defending Taiwan.
Senator Cotton asked him, “Over the past couple years, you’ve started to say … that Taiwan is a vital interest, but it’s not [an] existential interest to us or it’s not essential to us. Could you explain to us why you’ve seemed to soften somewhat about the defense of Taiwan?”
Colby responded that he always has said that Taiwan is “very important” to the United States, but he argued it’s “not an existential interest”, given the change in the “military balance” between the United States and China.
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