Donald Trump has done it again. He’s got elite foreign policy folks, the PRC (Communist China), and know-it-alls in the mainstream press, in a tizzy. What did he do? He accepted a phone call, from Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen, congratulating him on his recent win in the presidential election. Oh, the horror!
A little background. After World War II, Chinese communists under Mao Zedong defeated the Nationalists under Chiang Kai-Shek, and overran all of China, except for the island of Formosa (now called Taiwan.) For the last 65 plus years, a repressive communist dictatorship has ruled over mainland China, and the island of Taiwan has been an independent nation in all but name. And for the last 20 or so years, Taiwan has been a thriving, pro-American, democracy.
Back in the 1970’s, President Nixon, and then President Carter, in order to improve relations with China (a nation of over a billion people), at the expense of Taiwan (a nation of only 23 million people), decided to recognize communist China, the PRC (People’s Republic of China) as representative of China, instead of Taiwan. However, shortly after doing this, in order to show continued U.S. commitment to Taiwan, Congress passed the Taiwan Relations Act, and then Ronald Reagan declared the Six Assurances, which essentially said that if the PRC attacked Taiwan, the United States would come to Taiwan’s defense. It also said that Taiwan would be treated just as any other COUNTRY under U.S. law.
Here’s where it gets sticky. Buckling to Chinese sensitivities, U.S. presidents haven’t talked to Taiwanese presidents (even though Taiwan is our ally, and China is a pain in the a**.) In fact, the top four Taiwanese officials, the president, the vice president, the foreign minister, and the defense minister, are not even allowed to enter Washington D.C. (although the pain in the a** Chinese leaders are welcome.) This is just nuts.
I have introduced legislation, the Taiwan Travel Act, which would eliminate this absurdity. It is a bipartisan bill that I have introduced along with Democratic Congressman Brad Sherman of California. The Obama Administration opposes it, but I’m optimistic that the incoming Trump Administration will be more supportive, and that we may be able to pass it next year.
By the way, I’ve been very active in China/Taiwan affairs for decades now. I was one of the four co-founders of the Congressional Taiwan Caucus. And you may remember that I was Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific a few years back. So this issue is something I have cared about, and been working on, for a long time.
Okay, back to the phone call between President-elect Trump and Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen. Trump’s detractors not surprisingly, are criticizing him for allegedly making a rookie mistake, jeopardizing our relationship with China, and basically screwing-up.
I totally disagree with these naysayers. It’s about time someone is standing up to China. They’ve been bullying Taiwan. They’ve been bullying their other neighbors as well, including Japan, South Korea, Philippines, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, etc. They’ve been building islands in international waters, and militarizing them. They’ve illegally declared an air defense zone over international air space, and threatened to shoot down planes entering without their permission, (including American planes.) They’ve manipulated the value of their currency, to their advantage, and to the disadvantage of the rest of the world (including the U.S.) They’ve carried out cyber-attacks on U.S. businesses and against the American government, and stolen vast amounts of data. They’ve stolen and compromised U.S. trade secrets. They operate a vast gulag system resulting in the brutal incarceration of political prisoners. They’ve been an active participant in the persecution of Falun Gong practitioners, imprisoned them, and murdered them in order to sell their body parts for profit. The list of Chinese outrages goes on and on. Yet we should forsake our freedom-loving allies on the island of Taiwan, for this brutal totalitarian dictatorship?
Trump says (or at least implies) – no more. And I agree with him.