On Friday, cable news programs plastered hyperbolic chyrons across television screens, and newspapers littered their front-pages with ominous predictions, warning of an end-of-days showdown with the People’s Republic of China following president-elect Donald Trump’s decision to take a call from Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, and part ways with decades of US foreign policy protocol.
“China views Taiwan as a renegade province and, since 1979, the US has acknowledged Beijing’s claim that Taiwan is part of China, with US-China relations governed by a set of protocols known as the ‘one China’ policy,” explains CNN.
Calling Trump irresponsible, reckless, and war-hungry, political pundits and self-styled polemicists took to Twitter to offer their grim “analysis” on the future of Sino-US relations.
What the vast majority of these alarmists failed to mention was the fact that President Obama’s own Taiwan policy hasn’t actually been all that “diplomatic.” In fact, the Obama administration authorized a $1.83 billion weapons sale to Taiwan last December. The administration pushed through the sale of arms despite staunch Chinese opposition. That’s an understatement. Beijing was furious at Obama’s provocation at the time.
The deal is “a serious violation of international laws … as well as China’s territory and security interest,” Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Zheng Zeguang said in a statement broadcast via state news agency Xinhua. “To safeguard our national interests, China has decided to take necessary measures, including imposing sanctions against the companies involved in the arms sale.”
For its part, Taiwan celebrated the overture, calling the weapons deal “a comprehensive display of America’s pledge to provide security to Taiwan.”
Responding to China’s ire, US officials attempted to play down the significance of the deal, highlighting the fact that the stock of weapons provided to Taiwan only include defensive weapons.
“US arms sales to Taiwan are guided by the Taiwan Relations Act and based on an assessment of Taiwan’s defense needs,” asserted David McKeeby, a spokesperson for the US Department of State’s Bureau of Political-Military Affairs. “Our longstanding policy on arms sales to Taiwan has been consistent across six different US administrations,” he added. “We believe our consistent policy has contributed to the security of Taiwan, and has also supported the maintenance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait.”
This isn’t to say, however, that Trump’s phone call was necessarily a statesman-like move. Without a comprehensive strategy to manage the diplomatic row that may materialize in the imminent future, Trump’s call will amount to nothing more than provocation for the sake of provocation.
However, the double-standard here is disturbing. The press has been notoriously reluctant to point out Obama’s grave foreign policy errors:
Obama’s Syria policy over 5 years has been infinitely more reckless than a single Trump phone call. Yes, pretty blatant double standard https://t.co/sgUQ5DeNmL
— Shadi Hamid (@shadihamid) December 3, 2016
Indeed, the president’s unwillingness to challenge China’s expansionist policies in the South China Sea has not only emboldened Beijing, but it has marginalized key economic allies and trading partners in Southeast Asia, including Japan and Vietnam.
As China continues to expand its sphere of influence, countries once close to the United States will gravitate toward China and secure bilateral trade agreements with Asia’s burgeoning and unchallenged economic powerhouse.
China’s multilateral $50 billion Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank is already attracting key US allies, threatening the dominance of Western-led banking firms and lenders.
Already, all 10 countries belonging to the increasingly influential Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) have pushed to become members of the Chinese-led bank. Notably, the development bank is opposed by the United States and Japan.