{"id":2016,"date":"2022-08-26T14:32:29","date_gmt":"2022-08-26T14:32:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/why-is-taiwan-now-so-important-to-us-politicians-explainer-news\/"},"modified":"2022-08-26T14:32:29","modified_gmt":"2022-08-26T14:32:29","slug":"why-is-taiwan-now-so-important-to-us-politicians-explainer-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gulftimes.ae\/?p=2016","title":{"rendered":"Why is Taiwan now so important to US politicians? | Explainer News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div aria-live=\"polite\" aria-atomic=\"true\">\n<p>Another senior US politician is visiting Taiwan as Chinese military drills around the independent island have just wound down.<\/p>\n<p>Described as rehearsals for a potential invasion of the island, the unprecedented Chinese live-fire exercises were sparked by the visit of US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi in early August.<\/p>\n<p>The visit by Pelosi \u2013 the highest ranking US official to travel to Taiwan in 25 years \u2013 led to a major crisis between China and the United States.<\/p>\n<p>Twelve days after Pelosi\u2019s trip, a delegation led by US Senator Ed Markey landed on the island.<\/p>\n<p>On Thursday, Marsha Blackburn, a Republican senator who sits on the Senate\u2019s commerce and armed services committees, touched down in Taipei.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just landed in Taiwan to send a message to Beijing \u2013 we will not be bullied,\u201d Blackburn tweeted.<\/p>\n<p>So, why are so many US politicians visiting Taiwan now?<\/p>\n<h2>US-China rivalry<\/h2>\n<p>The US views China as its main strategic rival and high-level engagement between Washington and Beijing is important to keep the difficult relationship stable.<\/p>\n<p>But the US has also in the past decade placed greater emphasis on its support for Taiwan as a response to what Washington perceives as China\u2019s increasingly assertive actions in the East Asia region.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center;display:block\"><iframe title=\"Taiwan tension: US and China trade strong words at ASEAN meeting\" width=\"1170\" height=\"658\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/rHi-nBMBQVU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>In 2021, the US, Australia, and the United Kingdom announced a new trilateral security alliance \u2013 dubbed AUKUS \u2013 in an apparent attempt to counter China\u2019s growth in the Asia-Pacific region.<\/p>\n<p>China claims the democratically governed Taiwan as its own and has pledged to bring it under Chinese control, by force if necessary.<\/p>\n<p>Beijing\u2019s increasingly assertive stance towards Taiwan appears to signal that \u201cfuture crises in the Taiwan Straits are likely\u201d, according to professors Owen Greene and Christoph Bluth of the University of Bradford.<\/p>\n<p>Without a response to such assertive posturing now, Chinese leaders could be led to believe that the US is unlikely to become militarily involved if a crisis engulfs Taiwan.<\/p>\n<p>Even before Pelosi\u2019s visit, Beijing had stepped up military activities, including\u00a0regular incursions\u00a0into Taiwan\u2019s air identification zone, since President Tsai Ing-wen was first elected in 2016.<\/p>\n<h2>From \u2018strategic ambiguity\u2019 to strategic clarity<\/h2>\n<p>The US policy towards Taiwan has involved what is known as \u201cstrategic ambiguity\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>This policy approach involves the US \u2013 which is bound by a law that it must provide Taipei with means to defend itself \u2013 helping to build up Taiwan\u2019s military defences on the island.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAmbiguity\u201d resides in the US not giving concrete guarantees that Washington would directly intervene if Taipei came under attack from China.<\/p>\n<p>Recent events indicate that ambiguousness towards Taiwan\u2019s defence is giving way to more candid comments by US leaders that they will support Taiwan in the face of Chinese aggression.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center;display:block\"><iframe title=\"Why China and the US are at odds over Taiwan | Start Here\" width=\"1170\" height=\"658\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/k6Dh26a8u6w?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>The strongest signal of a shift away from strategic ambiguity came in May when US President Joe Biden said he would use force to defend Taiwan if it was attacked by China.<\/p>\n<p>Biden said while the US agrees with the \u201cone China policy\u201d, the idea that \u201cTaiwan can be taken by force\u201d is \u201cnot appropriate\u201d. White House officials later told reporters there is \u201cno change in US policy towards Taiwan\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>The US, under the one-China policy, recognises the People\u2019s Republic of China as the \u201csole\u201d and \u201clegal\u201d government of China. However, that policy does not mean that Washington recognises \u201cChinese sovereignty over Taiwan\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Some analysts believe the US is shifting from strategic ambiguity to \u201cstrategic clarity\u201d on Taiwan and its defence.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis time Biden\u2019s statement itself seems illogical but the sentiment and signal it sends are politically very useful,\u201d Wen-ti Sung, a political scientist who teaches at Australian National University\u2019s Taiwan Studies Program, told Al Jazeera earlier this year.<\/p>\n<p>During her visit, Pelosi appeared to add clarity to the debate by saying \u201cAmerica stands with Taiwan\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are supporters of the status quo,\u201d she said. \u201cWe don\u2019t want anything to happen to Taiwan by force.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The US wants Taiwan to have freedom with security and the US will not back away from that, she added.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center;display:block\"><iframe title=\"China warns countries against interference on Taiwan\" width=\"1170\" height=\"658\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pAQ-8u4VMZg?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>China\u2019s Foreign Minister Wang Yi called Pelosi\u2019s visit an \u201cout-and-out farce\u201d, and accused the US of violating his country\u2019s \u201csovereignty under the guise of so-called \u2018democracy\u2019\u201d.<\/p>\n<h2>War in Ukraine<\/h2>\n<p>The invasion of Ukraine drew attention to China\u2019s longstanding threat to use force to annex self-governing and democratic Taiwan.<\/p>\n<p>Taiwan stepped up its alert level at the start of the war in Ukraine, concerned that China might take advantage\u00a0of a world distracted by Russia\u2019s invasion to move against Taipei.<\/p>\n<p>In the first week of the invasion, a delegation of former senior US defence and security officials \u2013 led by the one-time chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff, Mike Mullen \u2013 arrived in Taiwan.<\/p>\n<p>In July, the head of the US Central Intelligence Service said the\u00a0Russian invasion of Ukraine was affecting Beijing\u2019s calculations on Taiwan in terms of when and how it might take place, rather than whether it might invade, CIA Director William Burns said.<\/p>\n<p>China, Burns said, is likely realising from the example of Ukraine that \u201cyou don\u2019t achieve quick, decisive victories with underwhelming force\u201d.<\/p>\n<p><span class=\"embed-youtube\" style=\"text-align:center;display:block\"><iframe title=\"Pelosi angers China with controversial Taiwan visit\" width=\"1170\" height=\"658\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/mvkCqEmzdFY?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/span><\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur sense is that it probably affects less the question of whether the Chinese leadership might choose some years down the road to use force to control Taiwan, but how and when they would do it,\u201d Burns told the Aspen Security Forum.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI suspect the lesson that the Chinese leadership and military are drawing is that you\u2019ve got to amass overwhelming force if you\u2019re going to contemplate that in the future,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>China\u00a0has not condemned Russia\u2019s\u00a0war against Ukraine and has not joined international sanctions against Moscow.<\/p>\n<h2>Domestic US politics<\/h2>\n<p>In a Bloomberg opinion piece, historian Niall Ferguson said one reason for Biden\u2019s more hawkish approach to Beijing on Taiwan may be domestic politics as the US heads into mid-term elections.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThat being tough on China is a vote-winner \u2013 or, to put it differently, that doing anything the Republicans can portray as \u2018weak on China\u2019 is a vote-loser,\u201d Ferguson said.<\/p>\n<p>US-based independent political fact-checking website Politifact found that US candidates are using political ads promising to be tough on China or attacking rivals as being too soft on China.<\/p>\n<p>China as a theme in the election campaign coincides with an unfavourable view of China among Americans \u201cwhether because they view it as an economic or security threat, or whether they blame it for the COVID-19 pandemic\u201d, Politifact reported.<\/p>\n<p>A poll in 2021 by Gallup, found \u201c45 percent of Americans now say China is the greatest enemy of the US, more than double the percentage who said so in 2020\u201d.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.aljazeera.com\/news\/2022\/8\/26\/explainer-why-is-taiwan-now-so-important-to-us-politicians\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Another senior US politician is visiting Taiwan as Chinese military drills around the independent island have&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-top-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v21.0 (Yoast SEO v27.4) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Why is Taiwan now so important to US politicians? | Explainer News - Gulf Times | News by the minute<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Gulf Times: Latest news across the GCC from UAE, Bahrain, Qatar, Oman, Yemen, Saudi Arabia\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" 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