While the US State Department continues to ask President Chen Shui-bian (
For the Chinese government, the cross-strait "status quo" means that Taiwan is a province of China, which is strongly opposed by most Taiwanese people. Because the unification council and guidelines also consider Taiwan a part of China, the decision to cease their function helps Taiwan escape from the trap of the "one China" principle. Meanwhile, this also means that it is the Taiwanese people, not the ruling elite, who have the ultimate right to decide Taiwan's future. Maintaining the status quo of Taiwan's democracy and freedom is the consensus of all Taiwanese people and it corresponds with US interests.
Needless to say, the Chinese government and the pan-blue camp were infuriated by Chen's decision. However, it seems that the US also believes Taiwan may change the status quo unilaterally. In fact, the US government seems to put much more pressure on Taiwan than China these days.
For example, the US hardly talks about China's growing military arsenal, nor the 14.7 percent increase in its military budget announced for this year. Does the US not regard this as a serious threat to the "status quo?"
If the US' idea of the "status quo" is different from that of China, namely, that Taiwan is a sovereign state instead of a part of the PRC, then the US government should clarify its interpretation unambiguously so as to avoid any misunderstanding among the main "players" on the Taiwan Strait's chessboard.
Su Yen-pin
Yonghe, Taipei County
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
If you had a vision of the future where China did not dominate the global car industry, you can kiss those dreams goodbye. That is because US President Donald Trump’s promised 25 percent tariff on auto imports takes an ax to the only bits of the emerging electric vehicle (EV) supply chain that are not already dominated by Beijing. The biggest losers when the levies take effect this week would be Japan and South Korea. They account for one-third of the cars imported into the US, and as much as two-thirds of those imported from outside North America. (Mexico and Canada, while
I have heard people equate the government’s stance on resisting forced unification with China or the conditional reinstatement of the military court system with the rise of the Nazis before World War II. The comparison is absurd. There is no meaningful parallel between the government and Nazi Germany, nor does such a mindset exist within the general public in Taiwan. It is important to remember that the German public bore some responsibility for the horrors of the Holocaust. Post-World War II Germany’s transitional justice efforts were rooted in a national reckoning and introspection. Many Jews were sent to concentration camps not
RSS