Taiwan’s loss of two diplomatic allies in less than a month says much about the recent state of mind of China’s leaders, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said on Thursday last week in response to news that Burkina Faso had cut ties with Taiwan.
Beijing’s increased suppression and bullying tactics are due mainly to its sense of unease and lack of confidence, and they do not demonstrate strength, Tsai said.
She said the reason for this was Taiwan’s strengthening of ties with powerful nations, especially the US.
Burkina Faso severed ties with Taiwan less than a month after the Dominican Republic did so. In the middle of June last year, Panama ended a century of diplomatic relations.
It seems that Taiwan, under Tsai, is hemorrhaging allies at an accelerating rate. Is she correct that this phenomenon is symptomatic of an increasingly unsure and worried Beijing?
Certainly, the acceleration matches the apparent resolve of Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to address the “Taiwan question” with urgency. During his opening address to the Chinese Communist Party’s 19th National Congress in October last year, Xi left little to the imagination regarding his intentions toward Taiwan.
“We have the resolve, the confidence and the ability to defeat separatist attempts for Taiwanese independence in any form,” he said.
Since then, there have been several significant developments in the US, demonstrating revitalized interest in protecting Taiwan and improving security ties.
Although not yet passed by the US Senate, the US House of Representatives passed the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2019 on Thursday last week. The law would require the US secretary of defense to develop plans on how to “support US foreign military sales and other equipment transfers to Taiwan, particularly for developing asymmetric warfare capabilities.”
US President Donald Trump in March signed into law the Taiwan Travel Act, which allows for high-level visits between Taiwanese and US government officials.
US Senator Cory Gardner, chairman of the US Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on East Asia, the Pacific and International Cybersecurity Policy, on Saturday visited Taiwan and met with Tsai at the Presidential Office before attending a dinner hosted by Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮).
Together with US Senator Edward Markey, Gardner has just proposed a bill calling for the US to advocate for Taiwan’s participation in international organizations.
On his arrival in Taiwan, Gardner said that the US “has an obligation to do everything it can to strengthen Taiwan’s international standing,” adding that “the success and security of Taiwan is in the greater interest of the United States.”
The US continues to demonstrate its presence in the South China Sea, with two US Navy warships on Sunday sailing near islands claimed by China.
What is the reason for the US’ willingness to be more assertive and apparently pro-Taiwan? Is it a return to the more pro-Taiwan stance of the Republican Party after the more conciliatory approach of former US president Barack Obama’s administration?
Is Trump trying to put the squeeze on China for other reasons, using Taiwan as a bargaining chip, albeit in a more benign way than had been feared when he first took office?
Or, is it because Trump is more willing to leave military decisions to his generals, who are looking more at the strategic situation — Taiwan as a “permanent aircraft carrier” in the region, located in the first island chain?
Whatever the case might be, if Tsai is right, then she could start planning to be more assertive.
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
In an article published on this page on Tuesday, Kaohsiung-based journalist Julien Oeuillet wrote that “legions of people worldwide would care if a disaster occurred in South Korea or Japan, but the same people would not bat an eyelid if Taiwan disappeared.” That is quite a statement. We are constantly reading about the importance of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), hailed in Taiwan as the nation’s “silicon shield” protecting it from hostile foreign forces such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and so crucial to the global supply chain for semiconductors that its loss would cost the global economy US$1
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
Sasha B. Chhabra’s column (“Michelle Yeoh should no longer be welcome,” March 26, page 8) lamented an Instagram post by renowned actress Michelle Yeoh (楊紫瓊) about her recent visit to “Taipei, China.” It is Chhabra’s opinion that, in response to parroting Beijing’s propaganda about the status of Taiwan, Yeoh should be banned from entering this nation and her films cut off from funding by government-backed agencies, as well as disqualified from competing in the Golden Horse Awards. She and other celebrities, he wrote, must be made to understand “that there are consequences for their actions if they become political pawns of
RSS