US recognizes Taiwan’s value: analyst
BETTING ON LOYALTY: Officials think the ties between the US and Taiwan, from democratic governments to the semiconductor pipeline, are tighter than China’s offers
By Yang Mien-chieh and Jonathan Chin / Staff reporter, with staff writer and CNA
The US would not abandon Taiwan in exchange for soybeans and Boeing jets, a US analyst said yesterday, as US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) ended their summit in Washington.
The White House understands that Taiwan might be its most important partner and therefore unlikely to take on any course that jeopardizes its relationship with the nation, said Hudson Institute senior fellow Riley Walters, in an interview.
Taiwan makes the semiconductors and artificial intelligence servers that are critical to the US economy and worth more than any amount of soybeans or jets the US could sell to China, he said.
Trump and Xi likely conducted much of their dialogue about Taiwan behind closed doors and any understandings they might have achieved would be kept secret, Walters said.
US officials have said that Trump has made no changes to Washington’s Taiwan policy, he said.
The US government has always considered trade and economics its most important issue, especially Trump, whose attention was focused on getting an agreement to cut tariffs on nonsensitive goods worth US$30 billion, Walters said.
Trump had reasons to attempt to reduce the US economy’s inflation ahead of the midterm elections, although whether slashing tariffs would achieve that goal remained to be seen, he said.
The political motive could explain the communications between the two countries and in the US-China Board of Trade, enabling Washington to make progress on some level, he said.
Washington and Beijing produced different versions of agreements reached during the talks, indicating the two sides need to improve their communication and understanding of each other’s goals, Walters said.
Separately, an academic said the Trump-Xi meeting had no tangible effect on US arms sales to Taiwan.
Tamkang University assistant professor of international affairs and strategic studies professor Ma Chun-wei (馬準威) made the remarks at a conference on the impact of the summits on US-China relations at National Chengchi University.
Ma, recently returned from a visit to the US, said that DC-based think tanks continued to advocate for policies to oppose China and support Taiwan, regardless of their party alignment.
Production capacity shortfalls in the US defense industrial base, managing tensions for Trump and Xi’s many meetings this year, and concerns over Taiwan’s ability to effectively defend itself all played a role in delaying US arms sales, he said.
The policy circle in Washington concurred that China was unlikely to invade Taiwan in the short and intermediate terms, making Taiwan less of a priority in the US’ eyes, he said.
Ma said the Council on Foreign Relations’ Web site has downgraded the risk of a conflict in Taiwan from high to medium.
Although Trump and Xi confirmed to have discussed Taiwan, the US Department of State and US Ambassador to China David Perdue said that no changes had been made to Washington’s stance on Taiwan, he said.
Washington’s Taiwan policy continued to be based on the Shanghai Communique, Taiwan Relations Act and the “Six Assurances,” Ma cited them as saying.
US policy to export arms to Taiwan likely would remain unaltered over the long term, but the nation should stay alert for personal remarks and decisionmaking from Trump that could alter US policy, he said.
Beijing’s strategy in the summits is to shift the narrative of US policy under the guise of conflict management and de-escalation, National Chengchi University associate research fellow of international relations Tzeng Wei-feng (曾偉?) said.
Xi demanded that the US treat China as an equal and oppose Taiwanese independence under Beijing’s definition of the term, while Trump was committed to strategic ambiguity, including arms sales to Taiwan, he said.
However, the risk of Trump’s transactional approach to international relations causing changes to the US policy on Taiwan and China is a risk that the nation should not ignore, he said.
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