Asia’s big bully-on-the-block, China, reacted harshly to 74-year-old President Donald Trump signing the Taiwan Assurance Act of 2020 and Tibetan Policy and Support Act of 2020, rejecting Trump’s move. Taiwan, located on the Island of Formosa, was a refuge for U.S.-backed Chiang Kai-shek, who led a band of pro-Democracy Chinese to the Island of Formosa during Mao Zedong’s 1949 Communist Revolution. In the destructive wake of WW II, President Harry Trump and every president since backed Taiwan’s right to independence and freedom from Beijing. Yet when former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and President Richard Nixon reopened diplomatic relations with China Feb. 28, 1972, both agreed to let China claim sovereignty yet allow independence of Taiwan. When it comes to Tibet, the Himalayan state, it declared independence from China in 1913 but lost in 1950.
Today’s Communist China asserts more control over Taiwan and Tibet, if for no other reason, purely for symbolism, unlike the Xinjiang region in Northwestern China where Beijing dominates the Uyghur Muslim minority. Xinjiang’s Uyghur population does not enjoy any autonomy from China, where a brutal crackdown has been going on for years. Taiwan and Tibet have their own issues with China, where Taiwan operates as an autonomous state while Tibet remains more closely tied to China, much like Xinjiang province. When 78-year-old President-elect Joe Biden takes over Jan. 20, 2021, it’s going to present some conflicts-of-interest maintaining the Taiwan Assurance Act and Tibetan Policy and Support Act because of Joe’s family’s business ties with China. Before the Nov. 3 election the New York Post published a story about Joe’s son Hunter and his brother Jim’s business ties with China.
No one in the mainstream media wanted to touch a story that reflected unfavorably on Joe related to his family’s business dealings with China. Currently under investigation by the Department of Justice [DOJ], Joe’s 50-year-old son Hunter and his 75-year-old brother Jim have made millions trading in China over the last five years, making it difficult for Joe to deal with China without conflict. China reacted harshly to Trump signing the two support acts for Taiwan and Tibet, both claimed by Beijing as part of China’s sovereignty. Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesman Zhao Lijian said China “resolutely opposed” Trump’s declarations on Taiwan and Tibet. Lijian was the same person March 12 that accused the U.S. military of infecting Wuhan, China with the deadly coronvirus AKA SARS CoV-2 or Covid-19 global pandemic causing today worldwide 81,440,986 cases and 1,777,756 deaths.
Trump frequently referred to the “China virus” something that irked China, wanting to blame the U.S. for creating the worst global pandemic since the 1918 Spanish flu event, killing between 50 million to 100 million. “The determination of the Chinese government to safeguard its national sovereignty, security and development interests is unwavering,” Liijian. Trump was very tough negotiating a new trade deal with China, trying to correct over $500 billion trade deficit, driving may U.S. manufacturing jobs to China. Biden’s going to have a real bind trying to reign in China while his family enjoys business ties with the Communist state. Biden claimed in a nationally televised debate with Trump in Nashville Oct. 22 that he’s never took “one penny” from any foreign government. But Joe didn’t say that his son Hunter and brother Jim have not taken millions.
Lijian served notice that Chinese President Xi Jinping considers Trump’s actions on Taiwan and Tibet and interference in China’s internal affairs. Beijing took the same stance on Hong Kong where a pro-Democracy movement tried to keep Beijing from cracking down on the once British Crown Colony. Hong Kong faces tough sledding under Beijing’s heavy-handed crackdown, arresting pro-Democracy demonstrators for demanding Beijing stay out of Hong Kong’s independent rule. Unlike Taiwan and Tibet, Beijing has even more reason to oppress Hong Kong residents, many of whom are immigrating to the U.K., the U.S. and other European countries. Beijing often threatens Taiwan with a military takeover, something the U.S. has vowed to stop, but, for practical purposes, couldn’t provide military security to the Island nation that maintained independence since the Maoist Revolution.
Under the Jan. 1, 1979 Taiwan Relations Act the United State officially recognizes Taiwan as autonomous from China, while, at the same time, not recognizing Taiwan’s sovereignty from China. It offers Taiwan defensive weapons helping the Republic of China maintain its independence from China but does not offer Taiwan U.S. military protection from a Beijing invasion. Since China annexed Tibet in 1950, the U.S. has no comparable relation with Tibet as Taiwan, not selling the Himalayan nation arms for self-defense. When Biden takes over Jan. 20, 2021, he’ll have a tough balancing act, affording Taiwan and Tibet appropriate U.S. backing, while maintaining relations with Beijing. China wants the U.S. to cancel formal backing of Taiwan and Tibet, giving Beijing sole sovereignty for maintaining relations with both countries. Biden’s family ties to China should not interfere in relations with Taiwan and Tibet.
