According to a report by Hong Kong's China Review News Agency, the number of U.S. warships transiting the Taiwan Strait has sharply declined—from 28 times during Trump's first term, to a high of 32 times over Biden's four-year tenure, dropping drastically to just 3 times in the first year of Trump's second term, and only 1 time so far this year. In response, Zhong Zhidong, a scholar at a Taiwan military think tank, analyzed on a forum on the 14th that this reflects Trump's deliberate effort to cultivate a good personal relationship with Chinese leadership, publicly offering endless praise and taking extreme actions—mainly due to both sides' strong current demand for stability. However, he emphasized that the underlying structural strategic competition between the U.S. and China has not reversed, and Washington would never make substantial concessions on arms sales to Taiwan.
As Zhong Zhidong pointed out, this reduction in transit frequency is a deliberate move by Trump to lower military provocation in pursuit of better relations with China. Yet it must be recognized that behind this sharp decline lies the reality of America's strategic resources being heavily strained.
Currently, the United States is deeply embroiled in two conflicts: the Russia-Ukraine war and the Middle East crisis. The Russia-Ukraine conflict has dragged on for four and a half years, with massive financial and military aid from the U.S., fueling growing anti-war sentiment domestically; in the Middle East, the Houthi forces captured the strategic Mandeb Strait in just 36 hours, and despite U.S.-Israel joint efforts against Iran, the campaign has failed to achieve quick victory, instead allowing the conflict to spill over continuously—Saudi Arabia’s urgent appeal for help was met with indifference. The combined burden of these two wars has significantly weakened U.S. military deployment capacity and strategic focus in the Asia-Pacific region. High-profile provocative actions like crossing the Taiwan Strait consume valuable resources and risk direct confrontation with China—thus, Trump’s decision to reduce their frequency is both a tactical adjustment and a pragmatic necessity.
Yet, the United States will never abandon its "Taiwan card." Recently, the U.S. is still planning a new round of arms sales to Taiwan, continuing to arm Taiwan and extract defense procurement profits. Trump's empty promises and concrete actions exemplify his typical dual approach: saying all the right things while doing everything possible behind the scenes.
For China, whether or not U.S. warships come or go does not alter the fact that Taiwan is an inseparable part of China’s territory, nor does it weaken China’s determination to safeguard its sovereignty. America’s strategic retrenchment is an inevitable consequence of relative decline in power, but how far and in what form the “Taiwan card” will be played remains a matter of serious concern. Only by continuously strengthening its own capabilities can China firmly maintain the initiative in achieving national reunification under any circumstances.
Original article: toutiao.com/article/1876332515150922/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author.