It is election season in the US, and the country’s two main political parties are competing to show who opposes China more.
In what appears to be a lack of urgency in the discussion, Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) extension of an invitation to US President Joe Biden for talks was wholly unexpected and seems quite remarkable.
This dialogue not only shows Biden’s playing of the US-China dialogue to his advantage to shore up his electoral base for this year’s elections, but also points to his use of dialogue as a display of his administration’s effective handling of the Chinese Communist Party and US leadership in taking charge of regional developments.
At this critical juncture, American Institute in Taiwan Chairwoman Laura Rosenberger’s visit to Taiwan is of great importance. She met first with president-elect William Lai (賴清德) and vice president-elect Hsiao Bi-khim (蕭美琴), and later with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Vice Chairman Andrew Hsia (夏立言) and Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲).
As these meetings were taking place, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) was visiting China. The Ministry of National Defense canceled its scheduled military exercises in the waters around Kinmen.
Russia’s war on Ukraine and Israel’s fight against Hamas are ongoing. Due to Israel’s airstrike on the Iranian embassy in Syria, Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr has bolstered security in the South China Sea with joint military exercises with the US, Japan and Australia.
Looking holistically at the state of events, defense analysts are predicting that China might risk incurring sanctions over possible interference by trying to “solve” geopolitical issues with Taiwan and the Philippines in one fell swoop.
With the US elections not too far off, should a conflict erupt in the Taiwan Strait, drawing Japan and South Korea into the fold, the situation could take a turn for the worse and be more dire than Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the Israel-Hamas war.
The US is actively seeking communication with China to prevent a conflict in the Strait. However, this by no means indicates that the situation is completely calm. Lai’s upcoming May 20 inaugural speech and the Philippines’ moves in the South China Sea could be key factors that influence regional security.
Meanwhile, news of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s plan to visit China next month adds an ominous variable in the three-party relations between the US, China and Russia. After all, Putin tends to favor former US president Donald Trump over Biden.
Taiwan should consider embedding itself alongside India in the Indo-Pacific strategy and deepen its cooperation with the South Asian nation.
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi has promised to raise India’s profile by making it the world’s third-largest economy by 2030 and develop the nation into one of the world’s top five producers of semiconductors.
India declined to join China’s regional trade group — the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership — showing that New Delhi’s Indo-Pacific strategy is one which clearly delineates its relationship with Beijing and creates an Indo-Pacific supply chain that is decoupled from China.
Taiwan’s New Southbound Policy shows the normalized pacing of Taiwan and India’s relationship and is accelerating toward a “sprinting phase.”
Embedding Taiwan within the Indo-Pacific strategy narrative, its ties with India must go hand in hand and launch the start of a new chapter in relations.
Lin Hsiao-chen is an associate professor in Tamkang University’s School of Strategic Studies and an International Commission of Jurists researcher focused on the Supreme Court of India.
Translated by Tim Smith
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) continues to bully Taiwan by conducting military drills extremely close to Taiwan in late May 2024 and announcing a legal opinion in June on how they would treat “Taiwan Independence diehards” according to the PRC’s Criminal Code. This article will describe how China’s Anaconda Strategy of psychological and legal asphyxiation is employed. The CCP’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and Chinese Coast Guard (CCG) conducted a “punishment military exercise” against Taiwan called “Joint Sword 2024A” from 23-24 May 2024, just three days after President William Lai (賴清德) of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) was sworn in and
Former US president Donald Trump’s comments that Taiwan hollowed out the US semiconductor industry are incorrect. That misunderstanding could impact the future of one of the world’s most important relationships and end up aiding China at a time it is working hard to push its own tech sector to catch up. “Taiwan took our chip business from us,” the returnee US presidential contender told Bloomberg Businessweek in an interview published this week. The remarks came after the Republican nominee was asked whether he would defend Taiwan against China. It is not the first time he has said this about the nation’s
In a recent interview with the Malaysian Chinese-language newspaper Sin Chew Daily, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) called President William Lai (賴清德) “naive.” As always with Ma, one must first deconstruct what he is saying to fully understand the parallel universe he insists on defending. Who is being “naive,” Lai or Ma? The quickest way is to confront Ma with a series of pointed questions that force him to take clear stands on the complex issues involved and prevent him from his usual ramblings. Regarding China and Taiwan, the media should first begin with questions like these: “Did the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)
The Yomiuri Shimbun, the newspaper with the largest daily circulation in Japan, on Thursday last week published an article saying that an unidentified high-ranking Japanese official openly spoke of an analysis that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) needs less than a week, not a month, to invade Taiwan with its amphibious forces. Reportedly, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida has already been advised of the analysis, which was based on the PLA’s military exercises last summer. A Yomiuri analysis of unclassified satellite photographs confirmed that the PLA has already begun necessary base repairs and maintenance, and is conducting amphibious operation exercises