China-US relations are touching its all-time low over Taiwan Independence issue. The US has the old habit of meddling in every global affair, that could be or could be not of its own interests. This time it is Taiwan where the US is making its presence felt, which China is not going to like or allow to persist.
The increasing unilateralism of the US administration has been particularly resented by China in its regional affairs, rendering the China-US relations which are already in its worst phase, into further uncertainty. For when it comes to Taiwan, it is a trespass from Chinese viewpoint as it has warned the US of dire consequences, including war if the latter continued to espouse Taiwan’s cause of independence at the expense of China. But as a spoiled, yet important, the child remains always busy in attracting his attendants’ attention, not for good reasons, so is the US policy in the global politics where almost every country is affected, not always for good reasons.
China considers Taiwan as its inseparable part although the island has been governed separately from the mainland country since the end of the Chinese civil war in the late 1940s. Taiwan was also among the pinching points that delayed the normalization of China-US relations in the preceding decades. Despite Washington’s decision to sever relations with Taipei in favor of Beijing 40 years ago, the US military support to the semi-autonomous region has irked China that has a serious stake in Taiwan.
Even more irksome for China is the frequent stopovers by Taiwan’s President in the US, that on one side suggests the warming of US-Taiwan ties; while on the other, the US decision to sell more than $2 billion worth of arms to Taiwan suggests the US administration’s total disregard of Chinese interests. The reaction is inevitable from China, which inflexibly claims Taiwan its territory.
The seriousness of Chinese claim could be gauged by the national defense white paper which released Wednesday, which is the first major defense policy document since President Xi Jinping began his second term in 2017. The white paper is apprehensive of the Taiwanese rebellious leader, Tsai Ingwen who is “intensifying hostility and confrontation and borrowing the strength of foreign influence.” At a press conference, Wednesday Defense Ministry spokesman Wu Qian termed Taiwanese independence a threat to the sovereignty of China. The release of the white paper comes in the wake of “an unusually long four-day stopover by Taiwan’s President to the US” early this month.
In addition, China views the US decision to sell over $2 billion arms deal with Taiwan with comprehensible suspicion, accusing the US of undermining the “global security”. On Mark Esper’s becoming the new US Defense Secretary, the Chinese military spokesman found an opportunity to criticize the US after a customary greeting. After wishing him well on assuming the new post, he adds that “I want to emphasize.. that China’s sovereignty, security, and developmental interests are not to be encroached.”
Besides, the US regional policies in China have another aspect: that it is shaping the balance of power accordingly. Clearly, the recklessness with which the US administration has been pursuing a unilateral stance has recently brought the two formidable powers closer: China and Russia. The two powers’ first-ever joint air petrol is an alarming signal. Japan and South Korea, the two US allies in the region, both have protested that their airspace in an area where both greater regional military powers have their territorial claims, had been violated. It is a clear signal to the US and its allies despite Chinese military formidability, it is not alone that resents US unilateralism.
