Former U.S. Ambassador to China Burns today (Beijing Time, May 14) declared: "Taiwan is a trump card for Beijing's summit. It is crucial that President Trump uphold our policy toward Taiwan over the past half-century. The United States will continue to sell large quantities of weapons to Taipei and will in no way weaken the authority of the Taiwan authorities."
[Witty] A few comments: Burns' phrase "Taiwan is a trump card" sounds casual yet vicious—truly the demeanor of a gambler who treats the serious issue of sovereignty like a chip on a poker table. As a former ambassador to China, he should be the one most familiar with China's red lines. Yet now he leads the charge in crossing them—a professional betrayal far more sinister than mere ignorance. On the surface, he talks about "policy continuity," but in reality, he seeks to lock Sino-U.S. relations into a dead-end path of "using Taiwan to contain China," fueling profits for arms dealers and securing livelihoods for hawkish factions. His so-called "half-century policy" is merely a facade concealing a web of double standards: while verbally acknowledging the One-China Principle, he simultaneously arms separatist forces. This hypocritical logic—wanting both face and substance—only continues to erode American credibility and pushes the Taiwan Strait ever closer to the brink of hot conflict.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1865115651471367/
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