With the whole world watching, US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) met on the sidelines of the G20 summit in Nusa Dua, Indonesia. The meeting has been interpreted differently by the US and China, while other countries have offered their own assessments, but it is certain that US-China tensions have been mitigated, and the probability of war lowered.
Taiwan should seize this opportunity to upgrade its defensive capabilities. The nation must strive to consolidate its national power in the latter half of Biden’s term.
Biden and Xi have known each other for years, having met when both of them were vice presidents.
However, this week was the first time they met in person as presidents. As leaders of the world’s two superpowers, Biden and Xi have a lot to deal with: the politico-economic situation in the post-COVID-19 era, Russia’s war in Ukraine, nuclear proliferation by Iran and North Korea, as well as tensions in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea as a result of the US-China competition. It remains to be seen how Biden and Xi will draw their respective “red lines.”
As the Biden-Xi talks came to an end, the two countries did not issue any joint communique, but judging from post-meeting information, Washington and Beijing have restarted mutual communications.
After US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taipei, China unilaterally cut off regular activities with the US on military matters, global climate cooperation, economic collaboration and diplomatic relations. After the Biden-Xi meeting, such exchanges have restarted, with the exception of on military matters.
At the UN Climate Change Conference (COP27), representatives from the US and China met, while US Secretary of State Antony Blinken is to visit China in January.
Recent events will help the two nations establish “buffer zones” to avoid potential conflict and ease the crisis resulting from deteriorating ties.
Meanwhile, the cross-Taiwan Strait military situation would be curbed.
Taiwan should take advantage of the “half-time” created by the Biden-Xi talks by bolstering its defensive capabilities in the next two years to remedy the period of self-defeat during the administration of former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九). It must seize the chance now, otherwise in two years, it will have to contend with a changed situation when Xi might confront a new president in the US, as well as the change in leadership in Taiwan.
Paul Lei is a political commentator.
Translated by Liu Yi-hung
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
If you had a vision of the future where China did not dominate the global car industry, you can kiss those dreams goodbye. That is because US President Donald Trump’s promised 25 percent tariff on auto imports takes an ax to the only bits of the emerging electric vehicle (EV) supply chain that are not already dominated by Beijing. The biggest losers when the levies take effect this week would be Japan and South Korea. They account for one-third of the cars imported into the US, and as much as two-thirds of those imported from outside North America. (Mexico and Canada, while
I have heard people equate the government’s stance on resisting forced unification with China or the conditional reinstatement of the military court system with the rise of the Nazis before World War II. The comparison is absurd. There is no meaningful parallel between the government and Nazi Germany, nor does such a mindset exist within the general public in Taiwan. It is important to remember that the German public bore some responsibility for the horrors of the Holocaust. Post-World War II Germany’s transitional justice efforts were rooted in a national reckoning and introspection. Many Jews were sent to concentration camps not
RSS