The first face-to-face round of talks between officials from China and US President Joe Biden’s administration in Anchorage, Alaska, on Thursday and Friday last week was hardly expected to run smoothly, given the preceding rancor between the two sides on a host of thorny issues — Uighur genocide, Tibet, human rights breaches in Hong Kong, the South China Sea, threats to Taiwan, etc.
The Chinese side included Yang Jiechi (楊潔篪), a former minister of foreign affairs and since 2014, the director of the Central Foreign Affairs Commission Office of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), who is generally regarded as one of the foremost contemporary architects of China’s foreign policy. Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) also participated. The US side was represented by Secretary of State Antony Blinken and National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan.
Yang threw away any semblance of diplomatic nicety when he launched into a diatribe, and bluntly said that the US did not have the “qualification” to say that it wants to speak to China from a position of strength.
However, it was not just the Uighur persecution, which Blinken — like his predecessor, Mike Pompeo — characterized as “genocide” or the gross violations of human rights in Hong Kong, but also China’s “unacceptable” threats against Taiwan, which many experts perceive as a prelude to an invasion. Pundits and foreign policy wonks believe that the Chinese side was irked in particular by Blinken’s emphatic avowal that it would stand up for friends facing Chinese belligerence.
This was taken as a US affirmation that it would, along with its allies and friends, strongly resist any move by Beijing to crush Hong Kong’s already frail liberties, or invade democratic Taiwan and annex it as part of China.
The Chinese interlocutors used tone and arguments, reminiscent of the unpleasant encounter between then-Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev and then-US president John F. Kennedy, when the former thundered ominously over Berlin and bluntly asked the US to stop challenging Soviet global ambitions.
The Biden administration, unlike the administration of former US president Donald Trump, has been harnessing support and solidarity from allies and friends. This is absolutely necessary if the US is to stand up effectively for friends against China’s aggressive designs. Already supported by its Indo-Pacific allies, the Biden administration should send a clear message telling China that the US will resolutely defend Taiwan, a friend.
While Blinken has already said that the US would stand by its friends, the Taiwan issue has become something of an Achilles’ heel for Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), who is being closely watched by his rivals in the communist party on his promise to “deliver” Taiwan. Washington needs to remind China of the dangers a war over Taiwan will pose not only for the entire region, but also, particularly, for China.
“This is how the US can avert a potential Berlin or a Cuban scenario in the Taiwan Straits. You have to send a clear warning about the consequences for China,” a foreign policy pundit said on condition of anonymity.
Washington and its allies have also been closely following attempts by communist hardliners to pass a so-called national reunification law on Taiwan. During a press briefing a few weeks back, Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson Zhu Fenglian (朱鳳蓮) said that China would “take all necessary measures” for Taiwan’s “peaceful reunification” with the mainland, but if this did not happen, Beijing would “smash to pieces” any attempts for independence by Taiwan.
This new move appears to reiterate China’s “Anti-Secession” Law, which provides a fig leaf for China to commit naked aggression against Taiwan if it formally declared independence or if it did not return to the “motherland’s fold.”
The enactment of this measure would suggest that the time has come for Taiwan to become part of China after possibilities for a peaceful reunification have been exhausted. The US’ ability or willingness to defend Taiwan will play a crucial factor in China’s calculations.
The Biden administration is alert on the Chinese threat to Taiwan. Senior US military officials have warned that Beijing could launch an invasion of Taiwan in the next few years. An invasion would trigger a major calamity for the entire region, which would be afflicted by chaos and turmoil, possibly forcing the US into a frontal armed conflict with China.
Although the Biden administration has many China experts and advisers who had served under the administration of former US president Barack Obama and helped formulate the “pivot to Asia” strategy, it is urgent to create an effective strategy to deter China’s attempts to seize Taiwan.
Jeffrey Prescott, a former security adviser and a senior Asia adviser to Biden during his vice presidential term, has said that it was urgent to “identify areas where we can bring collective leverage on China,” while pointing out that the Trump administration’s failure stemmed from its attempt to do things alone, alienating allies and friends, and thus giving China an “escape hatch.”
What can the Biden administration do? It can, as a start, unambiguously warn China that it would be willing to support Taiwan and ensure that it would be able to defend itself. Such clarity would also dispel Chinese misperceptions about Washington’s intentions to engage in a war over Taiwan.
The Biden administration is already keeping up the pressure on Beijing by retaining the Trump administration’s tariffs and sanctions, and Biden’s foreign policy and national security team has been holding talks with allies and friends — such as US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and Blinken visiting Japan — on creating a deterrence against China’s aggressive posturing on several issues, including Taiwan.
The Biden administration could also create a forward-based force in the Pacific, strengthen defense ties with Japan and Australia, and provide assistance to meet Taiwan’s defense needs. Setting up such a force will send a strong message to Beijing about the futility of its use of military means to settle its dispute with Taiwan.
However, Washington will have to get its allies and friends on board to create a strong collective deterrence against Beijing’s belligerence. Collectively standing up to China for friends will be more effective than putting up solo resistance. There is strength in unity — and numbers.
Manik Mehta is a New York-based journalist.
Minister of Labor Hung Sun-han (洪申翰) on April 9 said that the first group of Indian workers could arrive as early as this year as part of a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between the Taipei Economic and Cultural Center in India and the India Taipei Association. Signed in February 2024, the MOU stipulates that Taipei would decide the number of migrant workers and which industries would employ them, while New Delhi would manage recruitment and training. Employment would be governed by the laws of both countries. Months after its signing, the two sides agreed that 1,000 migrant workers from India would
In recent weeks, Taiwan has witnessed a surge of public anxiety over the possible introduction of Indian migrant workers. What began as a policy signal from the Ministry of Labor quickly escalated into a broader controversy. Petitions gathered thousands of signatures within days, political figures issued strong warnings, and social media became saturated with concerns about public safety and social stability. At first glance, this appears to be a straightforward policy question: Should Taiwan introduce Indian migrant workers or not? However, this framing is misleading. The current debate is not fundamentally about India. It is about Taiwan’s labor system, its
On March 31, the South Korean Ministry of Foreign Affairs released declassified diplomatic records from 1995 that drew wide domestic media attention. One revelation stood out: North Korea had once raised the possibility of diplomatic relations with Taiwan. In a meeting with visiting Chinese officials in May 1995, as then-Chinese president Jiang Zemin (江澤民) prepared for a visit to South Korea, North Korean officials objected to Beijing’s growing ties with Seoul and raised Taiwan directly. According to the newly released records, North Korean officials asked why Pyongyang should refrain from developing relations with Taiwan while China and South Korea were expanding high-level
Japan’s imminent easing of arms export rules has sparked strong interest from Warsaw to Manila, Reuters reporting found, as US President Donald Trump wavers on security commitments to allies, and the wars in Iran and Ukraine strain US weapons supplies. Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s ruling party approved the changes this week as she tries to invigorate the pacifist country’s military industrial base. Her government would formally adopt the new rules as soon as this month, three Japanese government officials told Reuters. Despite largely isolating itself from global arms markets since World War II, Japan spends enough on its own
RSS