Sailing the U.S. Arleigh Burke-guided missile destroyer Chun-Hoon into the Taiwan Strait, the White House poked the Big Panda one more time, sending U..S. Chinese relations into there lowest level in generations. U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, 60, shows once again he knows how to provoke Beijing, telling senior Chinese diplomats in Anchorage, Alaska March 18, 2021 that they commit genocide against Muslim Uyghurs in Western China. When 82-year-old former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) visited Taiwan Aug. 4, 2022, it practically brought Washington and Beijing to blows. Pelosi said she wanted to reaffirm the U.S. commitment to the Island nation called the Republic of China [ROC]. Formosa was the Island former Chinese Gen. Chaing Kai-shek led a band of Chinese nationalists to escape Mao Zedong’s 1949 Communists Revolution.
For over 73 years, Washington has protected Taiwan’s independence from Communist China with President Dwight D. Eisenhower, a U.S. WW II four-star general, signing in 1954 the Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty. Eisenhower pledged U.S. military resources to defend the island nation from a Communist Chinese takeover. While it’s true that the Island of Formosa was once a Chinese territory before Mao’s Communist Revolution, Taiwan was never under Communist control. For political reasons, largely to win himself his latest six-year term, Chinese President Xi Jinping has made Mainland control over Taiwan a national priority. Xi was irked by 80-year-old President Joe Biden when he said Sept. 23, 2022 that the U.S. would defend Taiwan against any Mainland takeover. Xi said Biden violated the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, signed into law by former President Jimmy Carter.
As business ties to Mainland China flourished in the 70s, Carter felt inclined to indulge Beijing, agreeing, in the Taiwan Relations Act, to recognize only one China and end the Sino-American Mutual Defense Treaty. Beijing insisted on the exclusive diplomatic treatment, forcing the U.S. to break off formal diplomatic relations with Taipei. But as time went on, the U.S., grew more reliant on Taiwan Semiconductor, the world’s biggest chipmaker, supplying computer chips to the U.S. auto industry and practically everywhere else, making the U.S. dependent on Taiwan chips. U.S. entrepreneurs and business leader frequently visit Taiwan, wanting no disruption in chip supplies. So, when Biden said Sept. 23 that he would commit troops to Taiwan, he was talking about protecting Taiwan Semiconductor even if he means WW III in the Indo-Pacific region.
China wasn’t happy today about the U.S. warship going through international waters through the Taiwan Strait. China lost a case on restricting navigation in international water at the Hague’s Permanent Court of Arbitration July 12, 2016, telling China it must stop building military installations in shallow water in the South China Sea. China does not subscribe to the Hague’s courts and said it was not bound by any of its rulings. “Ching-Hoon’s transit through the Taiwan Strait demomstrates the United States commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific,” said the U.S. State Department. China’s Washington embassy spokesman Liu Pengyu said the U.S. must “immedicately stop provoking troubles, escalating tensions and undermining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. “U.S. warships frequently flex muscles in the name of exercising freedom of navigation,” Pengyu said.
China takes any opportunity to reject that Hague’s 2016 ruling, letting the U.S. know it makes up its own rules in the South China Sea. “This is not about keeping the region free and open.” When it comes to Beijing, tensions have not been higher since former Secretary of State Henry Kissinger and President Richard Nixon opened up U.S. diplomatic relations with Communist China. “China will continue to stay on high alert and is ready to respond to all threats and provocations at any time, and will resolutely safeguard sovereignty and territorial integrity,” said the Chinese Foreign Ministry. White House officials have done little to placate Beijing on the freedom of navigation issue, often deliberately challenging Beijing. White House officials continue to provoke Beijing especially after the Hague’s 2016 ruling. Xi continues to threaten Taiwan, claiming it holds sovereignty over Formosa.
White House officials should be more cognizant to what it does to provoke Beijing, especially when it comes to Taiwan. Xi doesn’t get that the U.S. government is not about to disrupt its supply of chips with any kind of geopolitical earthquake in Taiwan. As long as the U.S. industrial base buys chips from Taiwan Semiconductor, it’s not going to let China disrupt that supplies. For all of its bluster, Xi seems to weigh PR threats against the reality that Formosa has never been under Mainland Chinese control Biden violated the policy of “strategic ambiguity,” answering reporters’ questions about how far the U.S. would go to defend Taiwan. Biden doesn’t talk about Taiwan Semiconductor but its clearly one of main industries the U.S. must protect from a Chinese invasion. So far, Xi appears bluffing, using tough Taiwan talk to secure his hold on power.
About the Author
John M. Curtis writes politically neutral commentary analyzing spin in national and global news. He’s editor of OnlineColumnist.com and author of Dodging The Bullet and Operation Charisma.
