Another senior US politician is visiting Taiwan as Chinese military drills around the independent island have just wound down.
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.
The visit by Pelosi – the highest ranking US official to travel to Taiwan in 25 years – led to a major crisis between China and the United States.
Twelve days after Pelosi’s trip, a delegation led by US Senator Ed Markey landed on the island.
On Thursday, Marsha Blackburn, a Republican senator who sits on the Senate’s commerce and armed services committees, touched down in Taipei.
“I just landed in Taiwan to send a message to Beijing – we will not be bullied,” Blackburn tweeted.So, why are so many US politicians visiting Taiwan now?
US-China rivalry
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.
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’s increasingly assertive actions in the East Asia region.
US-China rivalry
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.
ut 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’s increasingly assertive actions in the East Asia region.In 2021, the US, Australia, and the United Kingdom announced a new trilateral security alliance – dubbed AUKUS – in an apparent attempt to counter China’s growth in the Asia-Pacific region.
China claims the democratically governed Taiwan as its own and has pledged to bring it under Chinese control, by force if necessary.
Beijing’s increasingly assertive stance towards Taiwan appears to signal that “future crises in the Taiwan Straits are likely”, according to professors Owen Greene and Christoph Bluth of the University of Bradford.
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.
Even before Pelosi’s visit, Beijing had stepped up military activities, including regular incursions into Taiwan’s air identification zone, since President Tsai Ing-wen was first elected in 2016.
From ‘strategic ambiguity’ to strategic clarity
The US policy towards Taiwan has involved what is known as “strategic ambiguity”.
This policy approach involves the US – which is bound by a law that it must provide Taipei with means to defend itself – helping to build up Taiwan’s military defences on the island.
“Ambiguity” resides in the US not giving concrete guarantees that Washington would directly intervene if Taipei came under attack from China.
Recent events indicate that ambiguousness towards Taiwan’s defence is giving way to more candid comments by US leaders that they will support Taiwan in the face of Chinese aggression.