Former American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) chairman Richard Bush has drawn up a list of recommendations of “dos and don’ts” on cross--strait relations for US President Donald Trump, including not to state as the position of the US government that Taiwan is part of China.
Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) are scheduled to meet in Florida on Thursday and Friday next week. It is widely expected that Taiwan would be one of the issues on the agenda.
Bush, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, made the recommendations in a report he said was “inspired by Trump,” who surprised the world by accepting a congratulatory call from President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) in December last year, sparking a heated debate over what the US’ “one China” policy is about.
In the report titled “A One-China policy primer,” Bush explained how the US’ “one China” policy came about and “what it means and what it doesn’t mean,” adding that he “remained worried” about Trump’s approach toward China and cross-strait relations.
“I for one cannot rule out the possibility that [Trump] personally might choose to use Taiwan as such a point of leverage in negotiating with China, or being willing to make Taiwan-related ‘side payments’ to Beijing that would damage the island’s interests,” Bush wrote.
He listed 12 recommendations of “dos and don’ts” for the Trump administration.
The “dos” include continuing to restate the “abiding interest” of the US in a resolution of the dispute that is peaceful and acceptable to the people of Taiwan; urging both Taipei and Beijing to conduct cross-strait relations with flexibility, patience, creativity, and restraint; emphasizing to Beijing that the principal obstacle to achieving its goal of unification is not US arms sales to Taiwan, but the opposition of the Taiwanese public to its unification formula; continuing to provide weaponry to Taiwan; continuing interactions with Taiwan’s defense establishment on how to strengthen deterrence; and consulting in advance with Taiwanese leaders on any changes in US policy toward Taiwan before making them.
Bush also advised the Trump administration against stating as the position of the US government that Taiwan is part of China and against using the phrase “one China principle,” which is Beijing’s policy, and instead continue using the US’ “our one China policy” as previous US administrations had done.
The US should not “take a position on the merits of one country, two systems as a substantive formula for resolving the Taiwan Strait dispute,” Bush added, while also warning against implementing changes for improving bilateral relations with Taiwan “in ways that create a public challenge to Beijing.”
This story has been corrected since it was first published.
‘DENIAL DEFENSE’: The US would increase its military presence with uncrewed ships, and submarines, while boosting defense in the Indo-Pacific, a Pete Hegseth memo said The US is reorienting its military strategy to focus primarily on deterring a potential Chinese invasion of Taiwan, a memo signed by US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth showed. The memo also called on Taiwan to increase its defense spending. The document, known as the “Interim National Defense Strategic Guidance,” was distributed this month and detailed the national defense plans of US President Donald Trump’s administration, an article in the Washington Post said on Saturday. It outlines how the US can prepare for a potential war with China and defend itself from threats in the “near abroad,” including Greenland and the Panama
The High Prosecutors’ Office yesterday withdrew an appeal against the acquittal of a former bank manager 22 years after his death, marking Taiwan’s first instance of prosecutors rendering posthumous justice to a wrongfully convicted defendant. Chu Ching-en (諸慶恩) — formerly a manager at the Taipei branch of BNP Paribas — was in 1999 accused by Weng Mao-chung (翁茂鍾), then-president of Chia Her Industrial Co, of forging a request for a fixed deposit of US$10 million by I-Hwa Industrial Co, a subsidiary of Chia Her, which was used as collateral. Chu was ruled not guilty in the first trial, but was found guilty
A wild live dugong was found in Taiwan for the first time in 88 years, after it was accidentally caught by a fisher’s net on Tuesday in Yilan County’s Fenniaolin (粉鳥林). This is the first sighting of the species in Taiwan since 1937, having already been considered “extinct” in the country and considered as “vulnerable” by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A fisher surnamed Chen (陳) went to Fenniaolin to collect the fish in his netting, but instead caught a 3m long, 500kg dugong. The fisher released the animal back into the wild, not realizing it was an endangered species at
DEADLOCK: As the commission is unable to forum a quorum to review license renewal applications, the channel operators are not at fault and can air past their license date The National Communications Commission (NCC) yesterday said that the Public Television Service (PTS) and 36 other television and radio broadcasters could continue airing, despite the commission’s inability to meet a quorum to review their license renewal applications. The licenses of PTS and the other channels are set to expire between this month and June. The National Communications Commission Organization Act (國家通訊傳播委員會組織法) stipulates that the commission must meet the mandated quorum of four to hold a valid meeting. The seven-member commission currently has only three commissioners. “We have informed the channel operators of the progress we have made in reviewing their license renewal applications, and