US President Joe Biden on Monday at the US-Pacific Islands Forum at the White House announced that the US recognizes the Cook Islands and Niue as “sovereign and independent” states, and pledged to open diplomatic relations, while reiterating that “the history and the future of the Pacific islands and the United States are inextricably linked,” news reports said.
Is Taiwan any less worthy than those two for the US to recognize its sovereignty?
The Cook Islands is a group of 15 islands with a combined land area of about 240km2 and a population of about 170,000. Niue covers about 261km2 and had a population of 1,689 last year.
Both are small island countries with tiny populations, so it is commendable that the US, the leader of the democratic world, is willing to recognize their sovereignty and respect their existential right to establish official diplomatic ties.
However, Taiwan’s land area and population are 72 times and 1,240 times larger than the Cook Islands and Niue combined, not to mention that Taiwan has all the key elements of a nation-state: a permanent population, a defined territory, a government and sovereignty.
Aside from hitting back at China with “Taiwan is not part of China” or “UN Resolution 2758 does not concern the representation of Taiwan,” what is Taiwan to the White House exactly?
Taiwan’s national power is on par with other top countries in the global community, not to mention being one of the leading nations in Asia. Its GDP, economy, foreign exchange reserves, education, healthcare and democracy are strong, while US-based Freedom House gave it a score of 94 out of 100 in its Freedom in the World report in March.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co’s chips, Largan Precision Co’s cellphone lenses, Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc’s integrated circuit assembly and Giant’s bicycles are all world-class products.
Unfortunately, Taiwan even tops the world for number of Chinese incursions into its air defense identification zone.
Biden and his team should be more than aware that Taiwan would bring further stability and peace to the world if it could participate in global organizations and events as a sovereign democratic country instead of being diplomatically isolated.
Even the British House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee has for the first time referred to Taiwan as an “independent country” in an official document, breaking a political taboo as British Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs James Cleverly visited Beijing.
“Taiwan is already an independent country, under the name Republic of China,” the committee said.
If the British parliament could acknowledge Taiwan as an independent country, why not the US House of Representatives Committee on Foreign Affairs?
More importantly, if Taiwan falls into the clutches of communist China, it would not only be tragic for Taiwan, but another serious loss to the democratic camp.
Only by taking the first step and recognizing Taiwan as a sovereign country can there be hope of establishing official diplomatic ties and silencing anti-US propagandists.
I look forward to the day when the US president can bestow upon Taiwan the recognition that it deserves: a sovereign and independent state whose history and the future and the US are inextricably linked.
Chang Kuo-tsai is a retired associate professor at National Hsinchu University of Education.
Translated by Rita Wang
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