Next year’s presidential election is to take place in less than 100 days. American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) Chair Laura Rosenberger arrived in Taiwan on Oct. 15. She has visited Taiwan three times within 210 days of becoming the AIT chair earlier in March.
Rosenberger’s first visit was in mid-April and the second in early June. When President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Vice President William Lai (賴清德) stopped over in the US, Rosenberger received both of them at the airport and accompanied them. In other words, Rosenberger and Taiwan’s leaders have met with one another approximately once every two months.
Compared with former AIT chair James Moriarty, Rosenberger comes to Taiwan much more often. This suggests that the US-Taiwan relations has become unprecedentedly intimate, and the two countries have formed an alliance stronger than ever. When Moriarty took over the position of AIT chair in early October of 2016, he visited Taipei by the end of the same month for the first time. Not until late April in 2017 did his second visit take place. He visited Taiwan for the third time after eight months in December 2017. Unlike Rosenberger, it took Moriarty around 400 days to visit Taiwan three times.
Both Moriarty and Rosenberger used to be the US presidents’ special assistants as well as the US National Security Council’s senior directors for China and Taiwan. In terms of their official ranks, they are quite similar, but the timings at which Moriarty and Rosenberger assumed those official positions show how different they are. After Moriarty’s tenure at the White House, he was appointed as US ambassador to Nepal. In June 2011, his diplomatic career came to an end as he retired from his position as US ambassador to Bangladesh. Afterward, he resumed his diplomatic career and became the chair of AIT, and retired again after six and a half years.
Rosenberger is quite different. She is in her prime, which means that her diplomatic career should not end as an AIT chair. She has also worked with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken for years. When Blinken was US deputy national security adviser under then-US president Barack Obama, Rosenberger was his senior adviser. When Blinken became the secretary of state, Rosenberger became his chief of staff. Before long, she was appointed by Blinken to move from the US National Security Council to the AIT. The main purpose was to establish communication channels and facilitate dialogue among high-level officials in Taiwan, the White House and the US State Department.
US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) are set to meet at the APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in San Francisco. At this point, Rosenberger was ordered to visit Taiwan for a special purpose. As soon as she left Taiwan, the Presidential Office immediately announced that Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC) founder Morris Chang (張忠謀) will be attending next month’s APEC summit. When Rosenberger met with Tsai, she emphasized that it is Washington’s priority to consolidate Taiwan’s status in the world, and it is an important gesture from the US to comfort all 23 million Taiwanese. Although Tsai is not expected to have a chance to publicly meet with Biden and Xi, and Taiwan has been treated unfairly, the US has demonstrated its commitment to make it up to Taiwan. It is clear that the Biden administration uses other means to maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait while affirming Taiwan’s importance in the international community.
Chen Yung-chang is a company manager.
Translated by Emma Liu
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
US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) were born under the sign of Gemini. Geminis are known for their intelligence, creativity, adaptability and flexibility. It is unlikely, then, that the trade conflict between the US and China would escalate into a catastrophic collision. It is more probable that both sides would seek a way to de-escalate, paving the way for a Trump-Xi summit that allows the global economy some breathing room. Practically speaking, China and the US have vulnerabilities, and a prolonged trade war would be damaging for both. In the US, the electoral system means that public opinion
RSS