Taiwan’s new administration under President Lai Ching-te has been extremely vocal in its distaste for the One China policy. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) campaigned on the promise of sovereignty and patriotism. No other president has been this outspoken about China’s control over the small nation that clearly cannot defeat China independently. Yet there is one major reason that the new wave of politicians feels so bold as to provoke China through a strategic alliance with the United States.
“Taiwan independence is a dead end,” the Chinese Communist Party said in a statement when Lai Ching-te was elected. “Regardless of the pretext or the banner under which it is pursued, the push for Taiwan independence is destined to fail,” declared China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin.
Taiwan’s new defence chief Wellington Koo outlined their new defense strategy that primarily relies on protection from the US. Washington has taken a stance of “strategic ambiguity” in its speech, but action state otherwise. China has yet again warned the US to cease arms sales to Taiwan. Koo himself said that he would “not rule out using US military force,” while making is vague on whether the US has offered to fully protect Taiwan.
“As far as I know, Biden has maintained a strategic ambiguity approach, meaning he has not clearly stated whether to send forces or not,” Koo said after being questioned on whether Biden was backing away from Taiwan’s battle. Washington has remained elusive but is providing aid and arms to Taiwan. The US has ships patrolling the strait and has had countless Airforce interactions with China in that area over recent years. Biden also hit China with a new wave of tariffs to deter trade.
Defense Minister Koo has stated that Taiwan is already aligning with the US Indo-Pacific Strategy. “By enhancing our self-defence capabilities and integrating into the US Indo-Pacific strategy, Taiwan aims to become an effective deterrent. This focus on self-defence capabilities is the key priority for the defence ministry,” he said.
William Lai Ching-te said a “proportional self-defence count-attack will be carried out,” once China makes the first move. As we have seen countless times in conflict, that first move could be made by either side and blamed on the opponent. The Art of War is akin to a Hunter Biden drawing where nothing makes sense and those in charge have no understanding of what they are doing. The US has been unsuccessful in every war venture since World War II. And frankly, the US didn’t have a need to involve itself in any battle since then but went to war based on false flags such as “weapons of mass destruction” that were never found.
So the West is considering reissuing frozen Russian assets to Ukraine. China has carefully watched the West aid Ukraine over the last few years, and sees it is willing to take on the economic repercussions of a foreign war. China sees the West becoming involved in Israel’s battle that also seems to have no end in sight. Leaders like US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen claim that the US certainly can fund multiple wars, but the truth of the matter is that America is broke. Our adversaries see that we are wearing ourselves thin and striking will be far easier than before.
