An American perspective on the role of Taiwan in US-China relations

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Tensions within the Taiwan Strait are spiraling and have been since earlier than Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Communication channels for managing tensions have collapsed. Every of the primary gamers — China, Taiwan, and america — imagine it’s appearing prudently to guard its pursuits within the face of escalatory actions from the opposite facet of the Strait. Officers and analysts more and more are competing to forecast when battle may get away, not whether or not it would happen.

Taiwan is considered one of a small variety of points that has the potential to spark battle between america and China. Given the stakes, it’s important for American policymakers to return to first ideas for evaluating occasions, understanding America’s important pursuits, and figuring out the middle of gravity for developments within the Taiwan Strait.

One ought to count on Beijing to stay bloody-minded in its dedication to unify Taiwan with the mainland. The Chinese language Communist Get together (CCP) has sought to realize unification since its institution of the Folks’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949. There aren’t any indicators that Beijing will waver from this objective within the foreseeable future. Cross-Strait tensions probably will intensify within the coming years. It will cut back the margin of error for U.S. coverage actions on Taiwan.

This paper argues that the way forward for Taiwan will activate whether or not the individuals of Taiwan can keep confidence of their future. Confidence is the important ingredient to gird the Taiwan individuals to withstand fatalistic conclusions that resistance is futile and as a substitute shield their autonomy and democratic lifestyle till such time as peaceable, uncoerced options emerge to resolve cross-Strait variations. Since 2016, the PRC has intensified its marketing campaign of coercion to undermine the Taiwan individuals’s confidence in Taiwan’s future autonomy and democratic lifestyle. For america to protect its abiding curiosity in upholding peace and stability within the Taiwan Strait, it might want to visibly assist efforts to allow Taiwan to take pleasure in dignity, safety, and prosperity, even because it additionally maintains a reputable army presence round Taiwan.

U.S. policymakers additionally might want to restore coherence to coverage selections and public messaging referring to Taiwan. Will probably be essential for American coverage to be guided by constant precepts, together with the precept that america helps Taiwan for its personal sake and never as a software for harming China. Washington can play an essential position in managing tensions, however in the end will probably be as much as Taipei and Beijing to resolve cross-Strait variations.