The first visit by a US secretary of defense to China in four years went off relatively well last week, with James Mattis making clear that he was approaching talks with an open mind and that he wanted to “do a lot of listening” and then “have a conversation.”
Mattis evidently had a number of tough conversations, including with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and his official host, Chinese Minister of National Defense Wei Fenghe (魏鳳和).
While the Americans were more interested in discussing what they see as Chinese militarization of the South China Sea and North Korea, Chinese officials focused on Taiwan, where the US on June 12 opened new offices for its unofficial embassy, the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT).
China’s firmness on its territorial claims was made clear by Xi, who told Mattis in defense of Chinese activities in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait: “Not a single inch of the territory left behind by our ancestors must be lost, while we are not seeking to take any bit of what belongs to others.”
China is unhappy that the US Congress passed the Taiwan Travel Act earlier this year to encourage high-level visits between Taiwan and the US, and there was concern in China that US National Security Adviser John Bolton would attend the opening of the new AIT office.
However, on that day, Bolton was in Singapore for US President Donald Trump’s meeting with North Korean leader Kim Jong-un.
The US Senate recently passed the National Defense Authorization Act for 2019, which encourages the US military to participate in exercises with the Taiwanese military.
There have also been reports that the US Department of State has, for the first time, requested that US Marines be assigned to protect the AIT, which is technically not a diplomatic mission.
When asked for comment on June 29, a Chinese foreign ministry spokesman said: “The ‘one China’ principle is the political foundation for China-US relations. The US should honor its commitment to the ‘one China’ principle and refrain from any official ties or military exchanges with Taiwan.”
From China’s standpoint, holding joint military exercises with Taiwan or dispatching Marine guards would be inconsistent with its “one China’ principle, under which it says the US and China established diplomatic relations in 1979.
The US at the same time broke relations with Taiwan.
A joint communique was issued in which the US and China recognized each other’s governments.
“The Government of the United States of America acknowledges the Chinese position that there is but one China and Taiwan is part of China,” it said.
In the communique, the US also said that it would continue to maintain “unofficial relations” with the people of Taiwan.
Thus, it is China’s view that any US action suggesting recognition of Taiwan as a state would be contrary to its acknowledgment of “one China.”
China has made it clear that while its preference is for a peaceful union between itself and Taiwan, it reserves the right to use force to achieve this end.
This directly contradicts the Taiwan Relations Act, passed by the US Congress in 1979 to authorize the “continuation of commercial, cultural and other relations between the people of the United States and the people on Taiwan, and for other purposes.”
These other purposes very much include ensuring that Taiwan’s fate not be resolved by China through the use of force.
Thus, the act says: “It is the policy of the United States to make clear that the United States’ decision to establish diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China rests upon the expectation that the future of Taiwan will be determined by peaceful means.”
This would appear to suggest that Chinese use of force would nullify the US expectation that only peaceful means be used, and the maintenance of diplomatic relations would be thrown into doubt.
Indeed, the possibility of a US-China collision is real, as China ups its threats of force and the US tightens ties with Taiwan.
Such an outcome is unlikely to have been discussed during the Mattis visit. Both sides assessed the visit positively, with the Chinese Ministry of National Defense describing the visit as having been “positive and constructive.”
The US decision to disinvite China from the Rim of the Pacific naval exercise this year as a result of its militarization of the South China Sea was played down.
Instead, at the farewell banquet for Mattis, the emphasis was on Sino-American friendship, with a Chinese performer singing Edelweiss from The Sound of Music. Mattis refrained from joining in, but other members of his entourage did and there was an impressive display of camaraderie.
Frank Ching opened the Wall Street Journal’s Beijing bureau in 1979 after 10 years with the New York Times.
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
They did it again. For the whole world to see: an image of a Taiwan flag crushed by an industrial press, and the horrifying warning that “it’s closer than you think.” All with the seal of authenticity that only a reputable international media outlet can give. The Economist turned what looks like a pastiche of a poster for a grim horror movie into a truth everyone can digest, accept, and use to support exactly the opinion China wants you to have: It is over and done, Taiwan is doomed. Four years after inaccurately naming Taiwan the most dangerous place on
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
Wherever one looks, the United States is ceding ground to China. From foreign aid to foreign trade, and from reorganizations to organizational guidance, the Trump administration has embarked on a stunning effort to hobble itself in grappling with what his own secretary of state calls “the most potent and dangerous near-peer adversary this nation has ever confronted.” The problems start at the Department of State. Secretary of State Marco Rubio has asserted that “it’s not normal for the world to simply have a unipolar power” and that the world has returned to multipolarity, with “multi-great powers in different parts of the
RSS