U.S. President Joe Biden and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga are expected to hold a leadership summit in Washington, D.C., on the 16th, after the U.S.-Japan diplomatic and defense ministers’ “2+2” talks confirmed the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. The U.S.-Japan summit, which included a trip to Fujian by Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping and Wang Yi straight after his trip to the Middle East, was interpreted as a pre-Beijing summit maneuver intended to draw a red line for Taiwan.
Last month’s U.S.-Japan Security Consultative Committee included concerns about Taiwan in the “2+2” joint document, and Japanese Defense Minister Nobuo Kishi tweeted at the time that he “expressed concern about China’s Maritime Police Act during the talks and stressed the importance of peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. “
Japanese Minister Kan Yoshihide also mentioned in an exclusive interview on Fuji TV a few days ago that “it is important to create an environment that can be resolved peacefully by Taiwan and China in the case of Japan-US cooperation to maintain scare resistance.”
Nikkei Asian Review senior editor Katsuji Nakazawa wrote on the 8th that Japanese Minister Toshimichi Mogi spoke with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi for 90 minutes at the invitation of the Chinese side on the 5th. This reflects the restlessness of Chinese Communist Party General Secretary Xi Jinping ahead of the U.S.-Japan summit on the 16th.
The article mentions three episodes, one of which is Xi’s visit to Wuyishan in late March with the goal of countering the anti-China alliance formed by the U.S. and other Western countries. In addition, Wang Yi went straight to Fujian after his trip to the Middle East, meeting with the foreign ministers of Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia and the Philippines, and meeting with South Korean Foreign Minister Chung Eui-yong in Xiamen; and the main theme throughout Xi’s Fujian trip, Wang Yi’s talks with the foreign ministers of the Eastern Association and South Korea was “Taiwan. Finally, on the same day that the Japanese and Chinese foreign ministers spoke, the Chinese navy spokesman announced that the Liaoning aircraft carrier battle group was conducting drills in the waters “around Taiwan”. According to the article, Wang Yi’s message to Japan is ‘Taiwan, Taiwan, Taiwan’!”
U.S.-Japan alliance China tries to prevent “strategic clarity”
Zhao Chunshan, professor emeritus of the Institute of Mainland China Studies at Tamkang University, was interviewed by this station and interpreted that from the Deng Xiaoping era, he believed that the Taiwan issue could not be rid of the international. The Taiwan issue is ostensibly an “internal affair” for China, but it has been understood since Deng Xiaoping’s time that “the Taiwan issue is, to put it bluntly, an American issue.”
Zhao Chunshan, a full-time professor at the Institute of Mainland China Studies at Tamkang University (RFA photo)
Zhao Chunshan: “Now the U.S. has pulled Japan, he is now dealing with the Taiwan issue, in addition to the United States, but also to consider Japan, Biden is not like the Trump era alone, Biden is to pull the gang together, to the surrounding neighbors, especially Japan, the Taiwan issue has the greatest impact on Japan, and now South Korea has clearly to China to lean on, Japan is still mainly with the United States to stand Together.”
Wang Zhisheng, secretary-general of the China Asia-Pacific Elite Exchange Association, told the station that one of the reasons for China’s more aggressive actions recently is that the United States and Japan are “strategically clear” on the Taiwan issue, which makes China feel unprecedented pressure. The so-called “strategic clarity”, in the case of Japan, means that the Taiwan Strait or Taiwan issue is considered as part of Japan’s security and strategic protection, said Wang Zhisheng.
Wang Zhisheng: “When the United States and Japan move from ‘strategic ambiguity’ to ‘strategic clarity’, the distance to China’s ‘red line’ is getting closer and closer. He must react accordingly and let the U.S. and Japan understand China’s position and bottom line on the Taiwan issue. Whether this is enough to stop or slow down the U.S. “strategic clarity” is limited. It seems that recently Japan’s enthusiasm exceeds everyone’s imagination.”
Wang Zhisheng, Secretary General of the Chinese Asia Pacific Elite Exchange Association (RFA photo)
Since U.S. Indo-Pacific Command Commander Phil Davidson threw out in March that “Taiwan is also one of the Chinese Communist Party’s ambitious attempts and fears a significant threat within six years.” The statement drew a lot of attention from Taiwan’s neighboring countries, including Japan. In addition, China’s declaration that the Liaoning battle group will conduct regular drills around Taiwan in the future has raised the issue of the Taiwan Strait again and again.
Brazile and others write “Amplifying the Chinese Communist threat to Taiwan plays into Beijing’s hands”
Former AIT Board Chairman Richard Blum, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) Senior Fellow Bonnie Glaser, and Brookings Institution Foreign Policy Program Senior Fellow Ryan Hass spoke on National Public Radio (NPR) on August 8. Don’t Help China By Hyping Risk Of War Over Taiwan,” an article on NPR titled “Amplifying China’s Threat To Taiwan” mentioned that Taiwan The people of Taiwan need to have confidence in their future, not be constantly reminded of their vulnerability. If U.S. policy really wants to help Taiwan, it must go beyond focusing on the military threat. It must modernize the U.S.-Taiwan trade relationship, help diversify Taiwan’s foreign trade, and give Taiwan dignity on the world stage. Some of this work is related to security issues, but that’s just the beginning. It’s not the end. Beijing will of course oppose it. But the focus on economic and diplomatic initiatives is within the scope of the “One China” policy as defined by successive U.S. administrations.
Zhao Chunshan, who knows Brazier and Ge Laie well and believes they are very knowledgeable about cross-strait issues, fully agrees, “because the more you focus on the military threat, the more anxious mainland China becomes.”
Zhao Chunshan cited Kurt Campbell, the U.S. coordinator for Indo-Pacific affairs, who has said he would like to see peaceful dialogue across the Taiwan Strait. Zhao Chunshan said that if the U.S. gives a message, it might be of some use to mainland China. He also mentioned that because the Trump era was a time of withdrawal, and now Biden advocates globalization and participation in regional economic integration, Zhao hopes the U.S. will bring Taiwan on board.
Chinese Institute of Strategic Studies researcher Zhang Jing (RFA file photo)
Zhang Jing, a researcher at the Chinese Institute of Strategic Studies, said in an interview that in response to the warnings and declarations of possible serious conflicts in the Taiwan Strait made by scholars and experts from all sides, and in contrast to Taiwan society’s confidence that Beijing still maintains the tone of its “peaceful reunification” policy and that it will not recklessly use force to resolve political conflicts across the Taiwan Strait, the authorities are confused. It is really worthwhile for all parties to think deeply about whether the authorities are confused and the onlookers are clear, or whether the emperor is not anxious to kill the eunuch.
Zhang Jing: “Many predictions of the inevitable armed conflict across the Taiwan Strait, most of the views are based on fragmentary, fragmentary and sensational political shouting, but for the serious and prudent party and political decisions and political documents, many scholars and experts who are not rigorous enough in their studies, apparently have not spent efforts to grasp in-depth research and analysis, so that their predictions are difficult to win the confidence of the people of Taiwan. “
In addition, because there are a large number of people in Taiwan to work and study in the mainland, so the people of Taiwan for the mainland party and political decisions and political trends, have an extremely rich and diverse information channels, so it will be with many foreign researchers of cross-strait politics and regional security, can not produce authoritative persuasive power in front of the people of Taiwan, so there is a strong perception gap.
Wang Zhisheng suggests that Taiwan should correctly view the reason for Beijing’s hype about “armed reunification” as more of a psychological warfare for the outside world and a propaganda need for the inside. On the other hand, the possibility of Beijing’s “armed reunification” should not be ignored, and Taiwan needs to accelerate the construction of relevant defense capabilities, as well as defense capabilities through military cooperation among allies.
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