As Trump heads to China, past US flubs on US policy toward Taiwan can be a warning
BEIJING: It’s a verbal tightrope American presidents have had to walk for nearly 50 years, where even small slip-ups when stating official US policy toward Taiwan and China can trigger geopolitical alarm bells.
The way the US views Taiwan under the “One China” policy recognizes the Chinese position that Taiwan is part of China, while still allowing for informal US relations with the self-governing island.
It is intended to be vague — built on what’s become known as strategic ambiguity. That is, the US has agreed to ensure Taiwan has the resources to defend itself if China attempts to force a unilateral change, without saying how far it will go militarily to counter Beijing.
As assistant US defense secretary Joseph Nye said in 1995 to Chinese officials wondering how the US would react to a Taiwan crisis: “We don’t know, and you don’t know.”
