By Choekyi Lhamo
DHARAMSHALA, Mar 2: US lawmakers Tom Tiffany and Scott Perry on Friday have introduced a bill to scrap ‘One-China policy’ and to further resume diplomatic relations with Taiwan. The press release on Monday stated that the bill also urges the Biden administration to support Taiwan’s membership in international organizations and to start negotiations with Taipei on crafting a US-Taiwan Free Trade Agreement.
“For more than 40 years, American presidents of both political parties have repeated Beijing’s bogus lie that Taiwan is part of Communist China – despite the objective reality that it is not . . . It is time to do away with this outdated policy,” said MP Tiffany. The US has maintained normal diplomatic relations with the government in Taiwan until 1979, when then-President Jimmy Carter abruptly cut off ties with Taipei and recognized the CCP regime in Beijing.
“As an independent Nation that proudly collaborates with Taiwan across a wide spectrum of issues, it’s long past time The United States exercised our sovereign right to state what the world knows to be true: Taiwan is an independent country, and has been for over 70 years,” said Congressman Perry. The statement cited the bipartisan Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) and President Reagan’s “Six Assurances” that made clear that the US did not recognize China’s claims of sovereignty over Taiwan.
Congressman Tiffany proposed an amendment to the annual Pentagon spending bill that sought to withdraw a set of restrictions limiting communications between Taiwanese and US officials in 2020. Former Secretary of State Pompeo later enacted the policy, scrapping the “guidelines” to enable greater communication. “America doesn’t need a permission slip from the Chinese Communist Party to talk to its friends and partners around the world . . . Taiwan is a free, democratic and independent country, and its time U.S. policy reflected that fact,” Tiffany further added.
2 Responses
One China is a diplomatic myth & should be abandoned. Taiwan has never been part of China. Tibet & East Turkestan were independent countries illegally annexed by China & are really occupied states. Hong Kong is supposed to be an autonomous zone. China is just the 13 mainland provinces. That is it.
The greatest danger of conflict today is the expansionist policy of communist China. Tibet was the first victim of Chinese expansionism. When Tibet was invaded and occupied, nobody did anything. This emboldened the communist regime and their next target became the South China Sea. Today both Tibet and South China Sea are under Chinese illegal occupation.
Their next target is Taiwan. Is the world going to be a spectator again? That is the one million dollar question all thinkers, military strategists and political pundits are asking.
My take is, this time the Chinese communists will have no free passage to Taiwan. Taiwan is a small nation of only 23 million people but it is strategically located from the US perspective. It’s the gateway to the Pacific Ocean which the US regards as its own backyard and strategic for its security.
Besides, it is an unsinkable ship for US maritime power projection and influence in the Indian-Pacific. It’s an important buffer between US allies, Japan and South Korea and arch enemy communist China. For the US, if Taiwan is lost the US will lose its power and influence in the Indo-Pacific Region which is China’s principal aim of ousting America from Asia. China will transform Taiwan into a launch-pad to threaten Japan, South Korea and even the US just it did to India after the occupation of Tibet.
As it were, the US will not allow Taiwan to be occupied by communist China.
The US, with President Joe Biden is garnering support from its international allies to band together to face a possible show down with communist China in the foreseeable future.
Taiwan is bolstering its own defences by buying the state of the art military wares from the US government and building its own missile batteries and submarines to muscle up the the Chinese challenge. The Chinese communists under Xi has been threatening Taiwan after President Tsai-Ing-wen has refused to accept the so called “one China” policy agreed upon between the Kuomintang Party and the Chinese CCP in 1992.
However, the more the CCP threatens Taiwan, it also drives the Taiwanese further away from purported “unification” goal. After the appalling suppression of the democratic struggle of the Hong Kong people by introducing violent “National Security Laws”, the people of Taiwan have no appetite to be part of communist China. This is obviously a huge defeat for the CCP who first peddled the liberation of Taiwan like they did with Tibet. But when there was no such ground for such claim, it used “unification” of Taiwan as the pretext to suppress Taiwan. The insincerity, the duplicity and the violence that has ensued the take over of Tibet and Hong Kong by communist China, Taiwan will defend its sovereignty and territory with all its might. Unlike Tibet, Taiwan has a powerful ally in the most powerful nation on earth- the United States of America.
The more the communists push with their military coercion, the more the US is determined to defend Taiwan with its allies bound by the ideal of democracy, freedom of speech and human rights. There is every likelihood, an Asian NATO with Quad (US, Japan, India and Australia) plus the participation of NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) as the bulwark of containing China will emerge in the next ten to fifteen years. It’s inevitable because of communist China’s bellicose attitude to all neighbours and especially in the Indo-Pacific region. The demand to scrap the “one China” policy is an indication of the future scenario of incorporating Taiwan into the comity of democratic nations under the aegis of the world’s only super power- the US.