
Ahead of the US presidential elections scheduled for November, 'Taiwanese Americans for Harris' highlighted that there would be an "enormous" risk with a second Trump presidency.
'Taiwanese Americans for Harris' is an official grassroots affinity group gathering Taiwanese Americans to support US Presidential nominee Kamala Harris for president. It further aims to support the Taiwanese American community and help elect Democratssupporting Taiwan.
Although some US lawmakers have affirmed that support for Taiwan will continue regardless of who wins the 2024 elections, the organisation's national co-chair Jay Chen said, “There is an enormous risk with a second Trump presidency.”
Chen told Taiwan Newsthat as a lieutenant commander in the US Naval Reserves, no president has been more supportive of Taiwan than Biden, and no individual has been more dismissive than Trump.
However, Rupert-Hammond-Chambers, president of the US-Taiwan Business Council, said that they believe an administration led by Trump could adopt a clearer policy towards Taipei sooner and be more open to arms sales than a Democratic one.
Hammond-Chambers told The Washington Post that while the current policy offered no guarantees of American defence support, it restricted Taiwan's ability to acquire comprehensive defence capabilities, with the US "directing Taiwan only to buy in a certain area and only providing technologies in that area”.
The council’s head stated an example, saying that Biden's administration has denied a Taiwanese request for anti-submarine helicopters thatare needed to patrol waters around the island.
Watch |Taiwan reacts to Trump's 'pay US' comment; dedicated to bolster our defence: Taiwan
Meanwhile, the national co-chair of 'Taiwanese Americans for Harris', said that after Harris replaced Biden in the US presidential race, the Harris campaign has been “incredibly receptive” to Taiwanese Americans’ concerns.
Notably in July, Trump questioned US support for Taiwan in an interview with Bloomberg, saying that they stole America's chip industry, adding that Taipei should pay the US for its defence as "it doesn’t give us anything.”
(With inputs from agencies)