On December 2, 2016, US President-elect Donald Trump made international headlines by accepting a complimentary phone call from Taiwan’s then-president Tsai Ing-wen.
Since the 1970s, the United States has maintained its commitment to a” One China” scheme to placate Beijing’s rulers, which was a notable split from political practice.
Trump’s visit may have been interpreted as a sign of bigger foreign policy changes in the future, according to the occasion. Policymakers could have guessed whether the incoming Trump presidency would be the most pro-Taipei in a decade given the banker’s harsh criticism of China during the vote plan.
Then, eight years later, former president Trump cannot yet openly committed to preserving Taiwan’s freedom.  ,
In a recent discussion with Bloomberg Businessweek, this obvious policy change was made clear. Trump clearly declined to respond when asked whether he would uphold the US’s long-standing commitment to protect Taiwan in the event of a Taiwanese attack.
Instead, the Republican nomination questioned the relationship’s already-existing character. ” I think Taiwan should compensate us for security”, he said. ” Then we’re giving them billions of dollars to develop new chips in our country, and therefore they’re going to take that, to”.
The remarks were suggestive of Trump’s earlier criticisms of Washington’s protection commitments. He has called NATO “obsolete” and apparently seriously considered withdrawing all 28, 500 US troops from South Korea.
But, while Trump’s interpersonal viewpoint on foreign policy is well-established, his president’s guidelines did not always correlate with his separatist rhetoric.
Officials in Taipei may be wise to evaluate Trump’s potential following term more critically and not just based on his uneven rhetoric.
Regarding security agreements, US support for Taiwan under the Trump presidency can only be viewed as remarkable. In 2020, the White House approved a traditional$ 2.37 billion arms sale to the beach, which included Boeing’s Harpoon Coastal Defense Systems, a highly effective anti-ship weapon.
Trump’s Democratic president Barack Obama had previously opposed selling 66 F-16 fighter planes to Taipei, which he approved in 2019.
During its career, the Trump administration engaged in a number of high-stakes military activities with Taiwan. US naval vessels have traversed the Taiwan Strait a document nine times between 2018 and 2019, which is significantly more than in past years.
During the Republican nominee’s career, the US provided non-defense aid for Taiwan. The Taiwan Travel Act, which protected senior US authorities ‘ freedom of entry, was signed by President Trump in 2018.
The choice was also one of metaphorical significance. US Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar rose to the position of one of the most mature federal figures to visit Taiwan in a long time.
Keith Krach, the then-Undersecretary of State, came for a visit after that, which marked another political step for the two parties. These steps have contributed to the former president’s recognition in Taiwan. Chinese people overwhelmingly voted in favor of Trump in a 2020 YouGov poll on the US presidential vote.
Taipei is treading cautiously regarding Trump’s subsequent responses. One Chinese official told reporters that” Taiwan will continue to work with the United States and like-minded states to strengthen Taiwan’s defence capability and simultaneously maintain peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait.”
When asked about the situation, Premier Cho Jung-tai said that Taipei may be willing to accept more accountability for its defence.
There is no denying that those who are fascinated in Taiwan’s independence are seriously concerned by Trump’s responses. However, any concern may be tempered when considering that Trump has a vast and extensive history of parabolic, generally absurd, claims.
Trump reportedly threatened to “lock up” his Democratic challenger Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election and demanded that all Muslims be barred from entering the US. The real estate mogul asserted that Mexico may pay for the construction of his border wall animal project and when questioned past president Obama’s citizenship.
In foreign plan, actions may speak louder than words. Trump’s isolationist language does n’t work with the policies he implemented while in office, despite being occasionally destabilizing and frequently reckless. And Trump’s past actions do little to suggest that he will abandon US protection commitments to Taiwan.
His obvious and direct criticism of Beijing, in contrast, necessitates a fruitful and cooperative partnership with Taiwan. In the upcoming years, Taipei will only become more competitive with other countries in the South China Sea, placing it in the middle of the world’s two superpowers and at the forefront of a prospective following Trump presidency.
As well as working as a native assistant for the South China Sea Newswire, Caleb M. Mills works as a research assistant at Purdue University, researching behavioral and intellectual trends among state and non-state actors.
His job has been featured in the Geopolitical Monitor, International Policy Digest and RealClearPolitics, and was just cited in Anatol Lieven’s recent book ‘ Climate Change and the Nation-State ‘ published by Oxford University.  ,