Thu, Apr 13, 2023 page8

• The Liberty Times Editorial: A new phase in Taiwan-US ties

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  The meeting between President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California on Wednesday last week was held behind closed doors, but the two leaders held a joint news conference afterward.

  Tsai thanked the US for its “unwavering support,” which she said “reassures the people of Taiwan that we are not isolated.” McCarthy, for his part, said that “America’s support for the people of Taiwan will remain resolute, unwavering and bipartisan.”

  This is the first time that a Taiwanese president has met on US soil with a House speaker, who is the third most-senior figure in the US political establishment. As such, the meeting signifies a new phase in Taiwan- US relations. In contrast to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) threats of retaliation and continued military harassment around the Taiwan Strait, international opinion saw this meeting as a sign of solidarity among democratic countries against the threat posed by Beijing.

  Tsai had visited the Reagan Library when transiting via the US in 2018. The fact that McCarthy and 18 other House members from the US’ two major parties chose the same location to welcome Taiwan’s president illustrates the profound impact that Reagan had on Taiwan-US relations, and indeed on the free world.

  Reagan played a key role in ending the Cold War between the US and Soviet camps. He was strongly opposed to communism and friendly to Taiwan. Even now, more than 30 years later, his ideals and values are still reflected in the main current of the world’s democratic camp. The “six assurances” that Reagan made to Taiwan in 1982 have remained a cornerstone of successive US governments’ policies regarding the Taiwan Strait.

  In her statement at the news conference, Tsai underscored Reagan’s enduring significance by saying that he “played a crucial role, in partnership with the US Congress, in protecting and fortifying US-Taiwan relations.”

  The US constitution delineates the separation of powers, with checks and balances between the legislative branch (Congress) and the executive branch (headed by the president). The president has foreign policy powers, but both houses of Congress — the Senate and the House — also play a role in foreign policy and may even take clearer positions on foreign affairs than the executive branch.

  The US Congress has taken more active steps than the executive branch in response to the threat that authoritarian China poses to the democratic world, and it has taken a clearer and more assertive stance in support of Taiwan. The Republican and Democratic parties’ agreement on this issue has made Congress a key motivational force behind the executive branch’s policy implementation.

  In his meeting with Tsai, McCarthy called for speeding up arms sales to Taiwan and strengthening US-Taiwan economic cooperation in trade and technology. This is an important endorsement of the Taiwan Strait policies that US President Joe Biden’s administration has been promoting.

  Due to the restrictions of the US’ “one-China” policy, Tsai has hitherto not been able to go to Washington or meet directly with senior US administration officials. Instead, the House speaker — who ranks third in order of succession to the president after the vice president — led a bipartisan group of congressional members to meet Tsai, talk openly with her and host a dinner for her. This could be seen as a partnership between the US president and Congress to further advance the increasingly close and solid relationship between Taiwan and the US. Along with the warm and high-profile reception that Tsai received from members of both parties, it could make this transit via the US a step toward a formal visit in future.

  In particular, the strong military threats that the CCP made against Taiwan when McCarthy’s predecessor, Nancy Pelosi, visited Taiwan in August last year showed the world how extreme and irrational China’s communist regime is. As well as major democracies urging Beijing to desist and calling for peace in the Taiwan Strait, the US and other nations have also sped up their defense preparations to deal with any rash move by China’s People’s Liberation Army.

  Tsai’s decision, after consulting with the US, to meet with McCarthy in the US instead of in Taiwan, was made to avoid giving the CCP an excuse to stir up more trouble in the Taiwan Strait. It was also an important collaborative effort by Taiwan and the US to jointly manage the risks that Beijing poses to the region.

  In the past, when relations between the US and China were relatively good, it was often a case of “joint management of the Taiwan Strait,” with Taiwan being the weakest side of the US-China-Taiwan strategic triangle. Now, however, Beijing has become a strategic competitor, or even an adversary, of the world’s democracies.

  In today’s “China-skeptic” climate, Taiwan, which finds itself at the forefront of authoritarian expansion, is the primary ally of the democratic camp to “jointly manage the Chinese threat.”

  At the meeting, McCarthy stressed that the friendship between Taiwan and the US is vital for the free world, and is key to maintaining peace and regional stability. These words are indicative of the changing strategic environment in the Taiwan Strait and of Taiwan’s rising importance in the world.

  Following negotiations with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1986, Reagan said that “everything was negotiable except two things: our freedom and our future.” Tsai’s meeting with McCarthy in the global spotlight was meant to send a clear message to the world that this move by Taiwan and the US is not aimed at escalating regional tensions, but to once again demonstrate that democratic nations are determined to defend their shared value of freedom, even when challenged by threats from China.

  Beijing has been escalating its verbal and military threats against Taiwan to suppress its growing role among the world’s democracies, but these activities are unacceptable to the mainstream international community.

  Another strand of CCP activity is its “united front” tactics, such as inviting disillusioned Taiwanese politicians to go on pilgrimages to China and say things that suit the CCP, but this divisive tactic is too stale to have any effect on most people in Taiwan.

  During Tsai’s transit stops in the US, Beijing mobilized and even paid “red expatriates” to harass her. The Chinese embassy in Washington sent threatening letters to McCarthy and other congressional members who were planning to meet Tsai. Beijing also encouraged former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) to steal some of Tsai’s limelight by visiting China at the same time as her journey to Central America and the US.

  However, China’s efforts not only failed to affect international opinion, but actually drew more attention to Tsai’s stopovers in the US and greatly raised Taiwan’s international profile. As for the words of praise for China that Ma uttered while he was there, even his own Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) could not endorse everything he said.

  The timely significance of Tsai’s meeting with McCarthy marks a new high point in Taiwan-US relations, and showed the world that however Beijing’s “wolf warriors” might change their appearance, their anti-democratic nature never changes.

  Translated by Julian Clegg
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