LOS ANGELES (OC).–President Donald Trump, fresh off his summit with Chanese President X Jinping in Beijing, told the press that he considered not sending the arms to Taiwan. U.S. has a long history with the Republic of China [ROC], when Gen. Chaing Kai-Shek fled the 1949 Maoist Revolution to seek refuge on the Island of Formosa. Since then, generations of U.S. presidents backed the democrat-leaning nationalist Chinese who fled Communist China to preserve their independence. When the U.S. President Diwight D. Eisenhower with both House of Congress pledge their support for the ROC with the 1954 Chinese Mutual Defense Treaty, a policy that lasted 25 years until President Jimmy Carter rescinded the mutal defense pact, opting instead for the Taiwan Relations Act, appeasing Communist China by recognizing only one China, the one in Beijing.
When Trump’s predecessor, former President Joe Biden, pledged in 2022 to commit U.S. troops to defend the Taipei government, Chinese President Xi Jinping all but ended U.S.-Sino relations. While Trump and Xi has many important business transactions as part of the recent summit, Xi made clear to Trump that Taiwan was on his mind. Xi was threatening in 2022 to invade Taiwan, attesting to obsession with reuniting Taiwan with mainland China. Xi ordered the same reunification of Hong Kong June 30, 2020, during the worldwide Covid pandemic. Xi had enough of the pro-democracy protest in Hong Kong, eventually taking over the largely independent Hong Kong government. British rule in Hong Kong, based on a 99-year lease, ended in 1997, based based on a promise from Beijing to recognize “one government, two systems. Xi was fed up with Hong Kong’s defiance.
When Biden infuriated Xi by vowing to defend Taiwan in 2022, Xi was flying combat missions into the Taiwan Strait, harassing the Taipei government. While the government talks tough, it’s all because of the long history behind the U.S. supply arms to Taipei. Trump said he would consider Xi’s wish for Trump to respect Beijing’s sovereignty over Taiwan, especially when it comes to Taiwan Semiconductor, the world’s biggest AI chip maker. War hawks in the U.S. Congress would defend Taiwan, a potentially catastrophic mistake. If things look complicated in Iran, can you imagine what would happen with war with China. Americans found out the hard way in Korea and Vietnam, when they faced relentless Chinese involvement defending North Korean and Vietnam. So, any attempt at war with China would end badly for the United States.
In all their discussions, Trump asked Xi to intervene with Iran because Iran’s buy’s the lon’s share of Iran’s cheap oil. China buys oil from may souces, including Russia, but blockading the Strait of Hormuz has violated the international rules of the sea. Iran has resorted to terrorism to harass and attack commercial ship transiting the Hormuz Strait. While late to the party, the European Union [EU], including the U.K., has decided to help open up the Strait, knowing that Iran has no legal claim to an international waterway. No matter how much Pakistan mediates peace, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif knows that Iran has no claim to sovereignty over the Hormuz Strait. Sharif knows that it’s utterly absurd that Iran wants to trun the Hormuz Strait into a turnpike to charge exorbitant fees to shipping companies delivering products to global customers.
Whether China has any leverage with Iran is anyone’s guess. With the terrorist Iran Revolutionary Guard Corps [IRGC] in control of the country, it’s doubtful they would making any concessions to end the war. Iran’s military and nuke program has been seriously degraded during nearly nine weeks of war, leaving it with only drones and ballistic missiles to defend the country. Only in the Strait of Hormuz does the IRGC have leverage with its heavily armed fleet of swift boats capable of wreaking havoc on commercial shipping. Returning from China, Trump must decide whether to escalate the war or order the U.S. navy to neutralize Iran’s swift boat fleeting currently menacing commercial ships. Trump could order the military to start escorting commercial ships through the Strait. But the EU and NATO must do more to neutralized Iran’s aggression in the Strait.
Whatever Trump decides to do with Taiwan arm sales, he has much to balance, not betraying his good friend Xi who asked him to let Beijing resolve the issues. Xi has done nothing to condemn the U.S. war in Iran, despite the skyrocketing prices and global shortages of oil land natural gas. So, when it comes to Taiwan, the least thing Trump wants to do is alienate China. “”It’s not a takeover. They just don’t want to see this place—we’ll call it a place because nobody knows how to define it—but therey don’t want to see it go independent,” Trump said./ Xi wants Trump to resist the anti-China war hawks in Congress, like Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), who would recklessly take the U.S. to war. Trump leans toward letting China do what it must with the Island of Formosa. When it comes to arms sales to Taiwan, Trump showed he’s in no rush to fill them.
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.
