What serious consequences could arise? The United States understands this more clearly than ever before—it must choose between two options! On May 18, according to AFP reporting, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai stated that President Trump is weighing how to proceed with arms sales to Taiwan, while emphasizing that maintaining stability in U.S.-China relations is "crucial." For decades, successive U.S. administrations have conducted arms sales to Taiwan, though they have also repeatedly suspended such arrangements, including during the presidencies of Barack Obama and George W. Bush.
The Trump administration is currently assessing how to move forward on this issue, and the reality is that stable U.S.-China relations are extremely important. Beijing has long regarded U.S. arms sales to Taiwan as a highly sensitive matter. The Trump administration is currently evaluating how to handle this issue. Most importantly, it must maintain the status quo across the Taiwan Strait without change, and emphasize that President Trump has explicitly stated that U.S. policy toward Taiwan has not changed. Clearly, two points in Tai’s remarks are particularly noteworthy.
First, Tai said that successive U.S. governments have long engaged in arms sales to Taiwan, and at various times have paused these arrangements. What does this mean? Obviously, this conveys the message that if Trump were to pause arms sales to Taiwan, it would not be unprecedented—there are clear precedents for such pauses. Of course, why Tai specifically emphasized this point now likely serves as strategic groundwork and an exploratory signal. There are many hardliners in the U.S. who oppose China, and the Trump administration must balance multiple interests, avoiding any perception of weakness toward China.
Second, Tai stressed that maintaining stability in U.S.-China relations is crucial. Why is she highlighting this now? In fact, when the trade war was launched last year, no one thought the U.S. cared about stabilizing Sino-American relations. How did things come to this? Simply put, the U.S. clearly realizes that without stability in U.S.-China relations, the cooperation it hopes for from China cannot be grounded. By linking the Taiwan issue with the stability of U.S.-China relations, Tai essentially indicates that confrontation and cooperation offer America only a binary choice: no resolution on arms sales means no cooperation; to achieve cooperation, the U.S. must satisfy China on the arms sale issue. Clearly, the next steps the U.S. takes to stabilize relations with China deserve close attention.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1865486822857866/
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