Some political pundits have over the past few days been portraying former US vice president Joe Biden’s win in the US presidential election as a threat to Taiwan. This is an argument founded in ignorance and parochialism. It is also a fallacious projection of Taiwan’s internal politics onto the US political scene.
Here are 12 reasons why:
One, during US President Donald Trump’s time in office, his administration’s policy of passing Taiwan-friendly legislation had cross-party support, with the Democratic Party even taking the lead in some instances.
Two, during the campaign, the Democratic Party deleted a reference to Beijing’s “one China” policy from its manifesto.
Three, the Democratic Party has fully supported all of the Trump administration’s sales of military hardware to Taiwan.
Four, during the campaign the Democrats actually criticized the Trump administration for not being firm enough toward Beijing, while Biden himself lumped Trump, together with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and Russian President Vladimir Putin, on various occasions, calling each of them “thugs.”
Five, the Biden team believes that Trump’s US-China trade dispute will fail to extract concessions from Beijing or force it to abide by international rules.
To date, this assessment is correct. Democrats believe that Washington needs to shift the US’ China policy toward using friendly nations and multilateralism to force concessions from Beijing, rather than resorting to unilateralism and picking fights.
Six, Trump has lost the respect of the US’ traditional democratic allies and, as such, the US is unable to perform its traditional role as the leader of the democratic family of nations.
Team Biden has said it would fight China after obtaining the consent of allies. In other words, fighting together is better than fighting on one’s own.
Seven, a veteran political operator, Biden’s firm and steady leadership should unite the highly polarized US political environment and restore the US’ global leadership role. He has said that the US would rejoin the Paris Agreement on climate change and the WHO.
Although the US and Taiwan have good reason to be annoyed with WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, world leaders and the global public health community are almost unanimous in their disagreement with the US’ hasty exit.
Furthermore, despite the controversy over its handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, the WHO remains the world’s leading authority on public health policy and technical know-how.
Eight, Trump’s robust approach in dealing with China will be a key legacy of his time in office. Nearly one-half of US voters support his administration’s tough stance against Beijing.
The Republican Party’s leadership will fiercely defend the legacy of “Trumpism” and closely supervise the Democratic Party to ensure there is no backsliding over China during the next four years.
Trump’s opposition to the Chinese Communist Party has reminded the Republican Party of its anti-Red China, anti-
communist heritage. Taiwanese should feel grateful to Trump for this, although it must be said that he might not have had the best interests of the Taiwanese at heart when he decided to take on Beijing.
However, Trump has set the course of the Grand Old Party for the next few decades.
Nine, Democrats have criticized Trump for adopting too soft a stance on Hong Kong, Xinjiang and the South China Sea, and Biden’s team has said it would take a tougher stance toward Beijing on human rights and democratic matters.
Ten, the Democratic Party establishment, Washington think tanks and US mainstream media are broadly supportive of Trump’s vigorous stance toward China. Where there is disagreement, it is on policy — does the Trump administration actually have a coherent China policy? — and on methods.
Eleven, Trump is like an elephant in a China shop: He has exposed China’s longstanding bluff and bluster and its domineering and arrogant behavior.
In doing so, Trump has done the Democratic Party — and political leaders around the world — a favor by producing an anchoring effect that is irreversible.
We have reached the high watermark of Beijing’s “wolf warrior” diplomacy and its strategy of global infiltration.
Twelve, Biden’s family have been hit with allegations of doing business in China and becoming embroiled in corruption. However, Taiwan has a higher proportion of business with China than any other country in the world. Indeed, over the past three decades, which country has not done business with China?
Any accusations of corruption against politicians will ultimately be determined by the courts. We must have confidence in the ability of democratic nations to prevent foreign influence from infiltrating their politics and have confidence in anti-corruption legislation.
To say that China has bought politicians in democratic countries is to overestimate its influence and observers should be careful not to fall into this trap.
Beijing has failed in its attempts to buy off even the little island nation of Taiwan. Its procurement of media organizations and politicians has been exposed and thoroughly renounced by the majority of Taiwanese. Do people seriously believe that China has the ability to buy off Western nations?
Such accusations are simply part of the cut and thrust of an election campaign.
Biden’s victory is by no means bad for Taiwan. Rather than relying solely on domestic media for their information, more Taiwanese should get their news from high-quality foreign media, such as the New York Times, the BBC, The Economist and Foreign Affairs.
Wayne Gao is a professor at University of Taipei.
Translated by Edward Jones
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