The Trump-Xi White House summit has come to an end, and the two are expected to have two more meetings at the end of this year. Yu Maochun, an important think tank on Trump's 1.0 China policy, said in an interview today that the United States and China are unable to resolve major issues such as tariffs and regional security. The current focus is on maintaining strategic stability; this is an opportunity for Taiwan and will help further integration of the U.S. and Taiwan's economy, trade, and security.
The Baltimore Taiwanese Association and the Washington Taiwanese Association held National Day activities today at the Overseas Chinese Cultural and Educational Service Center in Washington, Maryland. Yu Maochun attended.
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Regarding the meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the White House at the end of September, two more meetings are expected by the end of the year. Yu Maochun said in an interview with the Central News Agency and other media on the sidelines that the United States and China are unable to solve major issues such as tariffs and regional security due to different systems and government operation methods. The current goal is to maintain strategic stability between the two countries, not to let the conflict go off, and to gain time to develop their own strength.
Yu Maochun, an important think tank for Trump 1.0's China policy and now the director of the China Center of the Hudson Institute, a Washington think tank, bluntly said that if the problems between the United States and China were easy to solve, there would be no need for so many summits and so many pomps. The reason why there are pomp and summits means that "there are many fundamental problems between the two countries that cannot be resolved."
Asked by reporters how Taiwan should respond, Yu Maochun said, "The United States and China cannot come together on some fundamental issues." For Taiwan, "this is an opportunity."
He believes that it is important not only for the United States and Taiwan to further integrate in trade and economic aspects, but "the most critical thing is security integration."
Yu Maochun pointed out that President Lai Qingde’s written message for the National Day event mentioned “hostile foreign forces.” For Taiwan, "the foreign hostile force is the Chinese Communist Party." For the U.S. government, the number one foreign hostile force is also the Chinese Communist Party.
President Lai said in his written message that Taiwan will not retreat and surrender in the face of interference from hostile foreign forces and the continued expansion of authoritarianism. Maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and preventing external forces from changing the status quo are Taiwan's national strategic goals.
Yu Maochun believes that since Taiwan and the United States share common threats, "they must have common defense." The U.S. defense concept for Taiwan is not only to protect Taiwan, but also "the protection of Taiwan is the protection of U.S. national security interests." There is a high degree of integration in the security sense.
On the eve of the September talks between Trump and Xi, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the United States and China had agreed to extend the trade truce, originally scheduled to expire on November 10 this year, for two months to January 10, 2027.
Patrick M. Cronin, director of Asia-Pacific security affairs at the Hudson Institute, said at a forum earlier this week that this temporary truce shows that both the United States and China have no intention of giving up their most valuable chips. Beijing has no reason to give up its advantage in critical minerals, and Washington should not squander one of its greatest strategic advantages: its network of capable allies and partners.
Cronin pointed out that the United States and its allies need to strengthen deterrence through "denial" around Taiwan and other areas in the Western Pacific. At the same time, they also need to have the industrial capacity, energy, technology, shipbuilding capabilities, ammunition, autonomous systems, semiconductors, and artificial intelligence needed to maintain deterrence in the long term.
