The US has been bolstering Taiwan's status. That was the title of a New York Times article written by Edward Wong on Tuesday.
He said a recent visit by US Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar and the sale of advanced torpedoes are recent moves that have strengthened ties. Last week, President Tsai also gave a video talk hosted by two policy research groups in Washington. She stressed the need to strengthen military ties and establish a free-trade agreement.
Wong believes these are attempts by the Trump administration to highlight Taiwan’s striving democracy and counter China’s attempts to weaken Taiwan’s diplomatic status. China claims Taiwan to be part of its territory, though Taiwan has been self-governed since 1949.
Taiwan is a part of the US’s competition and confrontation with China. A former top US defense official Elbridge A. Colby said, “Taiwan is the most important thing from a military and credibility point of view.” Wong said this is especially true as China has tightened control on Hong Kong through the national security law.
Former national security advisor John R. Bolton said in his book that Trump is actually willing to sacrifice support for Taiwan for trade relations with China. But his campaign strategists say he needs to appear to be tough on China for re-election purposes.
Colby believes there should be a stronger show of support for Taiwan. He said, “We need to change things on Taiwan to improve the deterrent and make clearer where we stand, especially by ending any remaining ambiguity about how we’d react to the use of force and altering our military force structure and posture.”
As for what type of military support the US could show, Wong said US officials said the administration is unlikely to try to station troops in Taiwan but a port call is possible as are visits by officers in uniform and training programs in Taiwan.
Davidson College Political Scientist Shelley Rigger said that no matter the policy options, the US should “make clear its support for Taiwan.” She also said that the US should formulate its policy with the aim of strengthening Taiwan rather than striking at China.