Vivek Ramaswamy, a 38-year-old Republican presidential candidate of Indian-American descent, advocates strengthening ties with India, South Korea and Japan as a strategy to reduce the United States’ economic dependence on China and Taiwan.

After participating in the first Republican primary debate, during which his popularity increased significantly, Ramaswamy formulated his foreign policy stance and proposed strategies on Tuesday.

Ramaswamy criticized Nikki Haley, an Indian-American Republican presidential candidate, who previously criticized him for his lack of foreign policy experience.

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Ramaswamy said: “We will form a stronger partnership with India, which includes a commitment by India to close the Malacca Straits in the event of a short-term conflict with Taiwan, and form stronger partnerships with other allies, including South Korea and Japan, to strengthen our economy.” to reduce.” Dependence on China and Taiwan.

The politician, who switched from entrepreneurship to politics, expressed a preference for clear strategic goals. He supported the idea that the United States should vigorously protect Taiwan until it achieves semiconductor production self-sufficiency. After gaining that independence, he proposed adopting a position of strategic uncertainty if risks to the US were reduced.

“The American way of life depends on high-end semiconductors made in Taiwan, and we cannot risk China gaining near-total influence over the entire US economy,” he said.

“By saying we will defend Taiwan, the US can strongly deter China from blockading or invading the island in the near future. “Meanwhile, Taiwan should more than double its own military spending to a more reasonable level of 4 to 5 percent of its gross domestic product,” he said.

He stressed the urgency for the United States to rapidly arm and train Taiwan with anti-access/area denial weapons. In addition, he recommended regular passage of at least one destroyer warship through the Taiwan Strait per week.

In addition, he stressed the need to strengthen the defense of the US homeland, which is currently facing significant risks in possible confrontations with China. He stressed the importance of strengthening capabilities in areas such as nuclear defence, protection against super-electromagnetic pulses, cybersecurity and space defence.

During his campaign, it was said that Ramaswamy was the only US presidential candidate who had made it clear that the US would defend Taiwan.

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“I’m the only presidential candidate willing to say what needs to be said: we will defend Taiwan. The US currently does not even recognize Taiwan as a nation. Both Democrats and Republicans unconditionally support the “one China” policy and advocate “strategic ambiguity” towards the island, Ramaswamy said.

In response to Haley’s criticism, Ramaswamy’s campaign released a statement rebuking her. The statement alleged that Haley deliberately spread falsehoods about Ramaswamy in order to garner financial support for her troubled establishment campaign.

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Haley has slammed Ramaswamy for his perceived lack of support for US allies.

According to his campaign, Haley flatly lied to Fox News that “Ramaswamy said he was going to let Israel down, those were his words” and that “he wants to go and stop funding Israel.”

“This is wrong,” his campaign claimed in a late-night statement.

“We challenge the failed Haley campaign and all media to find a single instance of Ramaswamy saying he does not support Israel. They won’t – because Ramaswamy never said they would. Instead, they continue to recycle obviously fake headlines they invented,” the statement said.

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Ramaswamy said that if Israel ever gets to the point where it no longer needs US financial assistance, that would be a sign of success — but the US would never stop aiding Israel until Israel says it is ready, it said on his campaign team.

It all started about a week ago when, during the debate, Haley accused Ramaswamy of having no experience in foreign policy.

Since then, the Ohio-based Native American has come under attack from both the media and his political opponents for his inexperience with foreign policy.

On Tuesday, Ramaswamy used Nikki Haley’s “Namrata Randhawa” name on his website.

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“I’m not going to get into any of those childish name games. It’s pretty pathetic. First: I was born with Nikki on my birth certificate. I grew up as Nikki. I married a Haley. And that’s my name.

“So he can say, misspell or do whatever he wants, but he can’t escape the fact, he’s the one who said he was leaving Israel,” Haley replied to Fox News.

“Those were his words. Now he wants it to go back. And the reality is you need to understand the importance of our allies and these relationships. We can never be so narcissistic and think we don’t need friends,” she said.

(With inputs from PTI)