Although he was expected to take over the chairmanship of the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT), Donald Keyser, a former US Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asia and Pacific Affairs, has suddenly been charged with secretly flying to Taiwan and passing documents to Taiwanese intelligence agents.
Since the case itself is extremely complex and the outside world knows little about it, local media have begun to sensationalize the personal relationship between Keyser and Isabella Cheng (
Cheng's husband is a journalist and Washington correspondent for The China Post. Ironically, he himself has now attracted the spotlight of the sensationalist reports from his unprofessional colleagues.
Meanwhile, some of the pro-China media have seized the chance and labelled Keyser as pro-Taiwan by citing anonymous sources. They even reported that during Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's (
This eye witness-style report strongly suggests that Keyser is a spy for Taiwan. Suspicious reporting of this kind also tells us that Bush -- the leader of the world's most powerful country -- deals with important documents such as drafts from the State Department by simply throwing them away. If this story is true, then the spies that the US really has to watch out for are those working as White House janitors.
There is still much that remains unknown about this whole incident, but based on the testimony of his colleagues, Keyser has been a steadfast moderate on the Taiwan issue, favoring neither the [pro-China] red team nor the [pro-Taiwan] blue team in the US. As such, we find it hard to believe that Keyser would slip up at a time when his career is at its peak and he is looking forward to retirement. Further, there is no information available that proves Keyser has passed any secret documents to intelligence agents here.
From a pro-Taiwan perspective, we naturally think that the more supportive of Taiwan US officials are, the better. Taiwan and the US do not have formal diplomatic relations, but have a deep and substantive friendship. Both countries follow the rule of law, and the exchanges between their respective officials should also be confined by the law.
But since the relationship between officials from both countries relies heavily on mutual understanding and empathy, the line between legal and illegal practices is often vague. Difficulties are inevitable between Taiwan and the US -- two allies that maintain a relationship without official relations.
The Keyser case underlines the confused nature of the boundaries of the relationship between the US and Taiwan, which is often so unclear that even the most experienced diplomat can occasionally transgress them.
In their recent op-ed “Trump Should Rein In Taiwan” in Foreign Policy magazine, Christopher Chivvis and Stephen Wertheim argued that the US should pressure President William Lai (賴清德) to “tone it down” to de-escalate tensions in the Taiwan Strait — as if Taiwan’s words are more of a threat to peace than Beijing’s actions. It is an old argument dressed up in new concern: that Washington must rein in Taipei to avoid war. However, this narrative gets it backward. Taiwan is not the problem; China is. Calls for a so-called “grand bargain” with Beijing — where the US pressures Taiwan into concessions
The term “assassin’s mace” originates from Chinese folklore, describing a concealed weapon used by a weaker hero to defeat a stronger adversary with an unexpected strike. In more general military parlance, the concept refers to an asymmetric capability that targets a critical vulnerability of an adversary. China has found its modern equivalent of the assassin’s mace with its high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) weapons, which are nuclear warheads detonated at a high altitude, emitting intense electromagnetic radiation capable of disabling and destroying electronics. An assassin’s mace weapon possesses two essential characteristics: strategic surprise and the ability to neutralize a core dependency.
Chinese President and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Chairman Xi Jinping (習近平) said in a politburo speech late last month that his party must protect the “bottom line” to prevent systemic threats. The tone of his address was grave, revealing deep anxieties about China’s current state of affairs. Essentially, what he worries most about is systemic threats to China’s normal development as a country. The US-China trade war has turned white hot: China’s export orders have plummeted, Chinese firms and enterprises are shutting up shop, and local debt risks are mounting daily, causing China’s economy to flag externally and hemorrhage internally. China’s
During the “426 rally” organized by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party under the slogan “fight green communism, resist dictatorship,” leaders from the two opposition parties framed it as a battle against an allegedly authoritarian administration led by President William Lai (賴清德). While criticism of the government can be a healthy expression of a vibrant, pluralistic society, and protests are quite common in Taiwan, the discourse of the 426 rally nonetheless betrayed troubling signs of collective amnesia. Specifically, the KMT, which imposed 38 years of martial law in Taiwan from 1949 to 1987, has never fully faced its
RSS