Taiwan’s National Security Bureau head Chen Ming-tong says a planned online summit between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping will not result in a “Fourth Communiqué.” That statement is from an intelligence and national security report he presented in the legislature on Wednesday.
Chen says that based on gathered intelligence and its analysis, it seems highly unlikely that the US and China will issue a communiqué similar to those from the late 70’s and 80’s, through which the two sides established diplomatic and political frameworks. He says the two countries are stuck in a Thucydides’ trap, and locked in a contest of ideologies with no clear way out.
Chen says that the political stance towards Taiwan remains as muddled as ever, but its security policies are becoming clearer. The US has recently dispatched three aircraft carriers to the region - a move unseen since the end of the Second World War, and aimed at sending a clear signal to authorities in Beijing to exercise restraint.