According to CNN on Tuesday, the US State Department has approved a possible deal with Taiwan to renew a $500 million training program for Taiwan's F-16 pilots and maintenance crews. It is also worth noting that April 10 marks the 40th anniversary of the US' unilateral creation of the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA). To commemorate the piece of legislation that lays down how Washington was supposed to deal with the island, the US acted quite conspicuously. The American Enterprise Institute issued a report calling for strengthening US relations with Taiwan, and likely, the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, the Brookings Institution as well as senior officials in the US government participated in commemorative seminars. Moreover, former House speaker Paul Ryan will lead a delegation to visit Taiwan for TRA events. How is one to understand the US' eagerness to deepen its ties with Taiwan?
First, it needs to be understood in the broader context of a change in the US policy toward China. The US regards China as a "strategic competitor." It has tried to raise the heat on China in the fields of economy, people-to-people contacts, international order and military security.
Due to the US' stubborn Cold War mentality, China-US relations face severe challenges. The US' policies toward China are aimed at undermining the international environment for China's rapid development.
The Taiwan question is a key component of the US' overall policy toward China. It is noteworthy that the US observed the 40th anniversary of relations with China pretty quietly while similar commemorative events over Taiwan have been designed to steal the spotlight.
Second, in the past two years, the US' Taiwan-related policies have been chipping at its "one China" policy. The US is gradually changing its earlier way of obscuring "one China" connotations, and dangerously trying to promote its "one China, one Taiwan" leaning. To the US, "one China" more and more refers to the Chinese mainland.
In 2018, the US Congress and the government have used the Taiwan Travel Act and the National Defense Authorization Act to promote relations with authorities on the island, enhance Taiwan's so-called international activity space, and encourage reciprocal visits between warships. All this has diluted the "one China" consensus on Taiwan-related issues formed since the establishment of China-US diplomatic relations 40 years ago.
From 2018, the US has on several occasions broken the convention of maintaining only unofficial links with Taiwan, manifested in its State Department officials' high-profile and frequent visits to the island. The US' arms sale and possible warship visits to Taiwan make it more difficult to solve the Taiwan question in a constructive way. The US proclivity for changing its approach to Taiwan verges on the dangerous and can lead to instability in the Taiwan Straits.
Third, the US is trying to retard China's development momentum by intensive policy adjustments on Taiwan-related issues. There is only one China and Taiwan is an inalienable part of China. This should form the crux of stable China-US relations. The US has been constantly making trouble on the Taiwan question. It amounts to interference in China's internal affairs.
Social stability and economic prosperity in China have come about thanks to the country's reforms and opening-up, which is inseparable from its territorial integrity and sovereignty. The US is bent on provoking tensions in the Taiwan Straits and stirring up disputes. Aggravating internal strife, triggering chaos and queering the pitch for China's prosperity and development is what the US wants by raking up the Taiwan question.
Since the late 1940s, the US has never given up attempts to use Taiwan to intervene in China's internal affairs. The US way of dealing with Taiwan-related issues smacks of a colonial mind-set. The times are changing. China has undergone profound changes. Hence, the US approach to Taiwan will end in complete failure.
Fourth, it is likely that this year the Taiwan question will be the focus of China-US disputes, like last year's trade friction. The US is very likely to raise the number and frequency of US officials visiting Taiwan. It is also likely to carry out the so-called mutual warship visits to Taiwan in a disguised manner.
Given Trump's personality, using the Chinese island as a bargaining chip with Beijing on other issues such as China's participation in the US-Russia nuclear disarmament agreement can't be excluded. The Taiwan question involves China's core interests and is the political foundation for stable China-US relations. Any changes in the US policy on Taiwan will have a huge impact on this relationship, which is closely related to regional and global order.
Therefore, the US needs to exercise prudence on Taiwan and abide by the one-China principle based on the three joint communiqués between China and the US. Any US provocative move in the Taiwan Straits is detrimental to the interests of all parties. We hope to form a mutually beneficial China-US relationship, which needs efforts by both sides.
The author is a professor with the Institute of International Relations, China Foreign Affairs University.
