Let Taiwan be Taiwan
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and his wife, Peng Liyuan (彭麗媛), on Thursday last week were welcomed by US President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump.
Trump’s parents enrolled him in the New York Military Academy during his teens. He has been well-trained and is smart enough to have an insight into Xi’s wishful tricks. To show Xi that the US can and does have the ability to handle North Korea’s provocations, Trump met with his national security team and gave the order to strike Syria just before his dinner with Xi.
The missile strike was in response to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad using chemical weapons to attack and kill dozens of civilians. Fifty-nine Tomahawks were fired — 36 from the USS Ross and 23 from the USS Porter — and they severely degraded or destroyed their intended target.
At almost the end of the dinner, Trump told reporters at the event: “Tonight, I ordered a targeted military strike on the airfield in Syria from where the chemical attack was launched. It is in this vital national security interest of the United States to prevent and deter the spread and use of deadly chemical weapons.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin described the airstrikes as “an act of aggression against a sovereign state” that “dealt a serious blow to Russia-US relations.” Moscow said it believed Syria had destroyed all of its chemical weapons and that the US strikes were based on a “far-fetched pretext.”
However, US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson confirmed that the US military contacted their Russian counterparts about the attack one hour ahead in accordance with deconfliction policies between the US and Russia over military activities in Syria.
On the second day of the summit, Xi agreed to cooperate and rein in North Korea’s missile and nuclear programs. The US and China reached a comprehensive agreement on four new high-level mechanisms for dialogue and cooperation in diplomacy and security; the economy; law enforcement and cybersecurity; and social and people-to-people exchanges.
Xi agreed to a 100-day plan for trade talks aimed at boosting US exports and reducing China’s trade surplus with the US.
“We have engaged in deeper understanding, and have built a trust,” Xi said. “I believe we will keep developing in a stable way to form friendly relations... For the peace and stability of the world, we will also fulfill our historical responsibility.”
The summit was wrapped up with Trump promising a state visit to China this year to work on expanding areas of cooperation between the US and China, while managing differences with mutual respect.
In addition to North Korea, there are issues of trade deficits, currency, intellectual property rights, cybersecurity, the South China Sea, human rights, Taiwan and the “one China” policy.
It seems a big relief for the government that Taiwan and the “one China” issue was not raised, but Taiwanese need to know why is it that whenever trouble stirs in North or South Korea Taiwan should suffer?
The US’ repeated assurance and confirmation of the US policy on Taiwan and China is based on the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) and the three communiques.
The TRA has clearly derecognized the Republic of China (ROC), so why does the government — from the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to the Democratic Progressive Party — continue to hold on to the illusion of nationhood and repeatedly scapegoat Taiwan for super power summits?
Why did South Korea’s troubles in the First Sino-Japanese War in 1895 and the Korean War in 1950, penalize Taiwan? It is all because Taiwan is unwillingly tied into China. Even today Taiwan is still illegally locked into the ROC, but who is the ROC on behalf of, Taiwanese or Chinese? Why do the US and Japan call Taiwan by its name, but the government calls it the ROC?
This is a critical moment; it is time for Taiwanese to untie the rope. Please, let Taiwan be Taiwan.
John Hsieh
Hayward, California
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