US support for Taiwan would not weaken, despite eased tensions between the US and China after a meeting between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), a Taiwanese academic said yesterday.
Liu Fu-kuo (劉復國), a research associate at the Center for International Relations at National Chengchi University, made the comment at a seminar in Taipei on the meeting between Biden and Xi on the sidelines of the APEC summit in San Francisco.
During their meeting, Xi urged the US not to support Taiwan’s independence and to stop arming Taiwan, China’s state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Photo: Yang Cheng-yu, Taipei Times
The two leaders agreed to “manage that competition responsibly so it doesn’t veer into conflict,” Biden told reporters after the meeting, which raised concerns about whether the US would restrain support for Taiwan.
This concern would be “overthinking,” considering the bumpy relations between the US and China after the first meeting between their leaders at a G20 leaders’ summit in Bali, Indonesia, last year, Liu said.
Although the two sides have agreed to mitigate risks, there remain many fundamental differences that would not be easily reconciled, he said.
In addition, a strong anti-China sentiment in the US means that the US-Taiwan relationship is likely to remain unchanged, he said.
The US presidential election next year might be a critical test to the eased tensions between the US and China, Liu said, adding that if former US president Donald Trump wins, it would shake up the relationship again.
Regarding a Reuters report quoting a senior White House official as saying that Xi denied China’s intention to unify Taiwan by force by 2027 or 2035, center deputy director Wang Hsin-hsien (王信賢) said that Xi’s words might be “conditional.”
Whether Beijing is to force unification with Taiwan hinges on political, military, diplomatic and economic conditions, he said.
Center director Kou Chien-wen (寇健文) said that Beijing has been pursuing peaceful unification with Taiwan while refusing to renounce the use of force.
Beijing always has back-up plans and its Taiwan policy is constantly evolving depending on international conditions, he said.
As the US and China agreed to control the risks of their interaction, the Taiwanese government should also think about how to minimize risks between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, Liu said, adding that “dialogue between the governments is needed.”
Taiwan has long been at the core of the feud between the US and China, so it is crucial for the nation to preserve its autonomy, Wang said.
Taiwan should “seek out its own path” to protect its national interests, Liu said.
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