◎ Lin Jialong
U.S. President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met again in Washington recently, which attracted great international attention. From the continued negotiations between the two sides on economic, trade, technology and security issues, including measures such as extending the trade truce for two months, it can be seen that even if the US-China relations seek "constructive strategic stability", structural competition and differences between them still exist.
After the Sichuan-Xi meeting in May this year, Xi Jinping proposed "constructive strategic stability" as the new positioning of Sino-US relations, emphasizing cooperation, moderate competition and managing differences. At the second meeting between Sichuan and Xi in September, although the two sides maintained high-level dialogue and cooperation, it can be seen from the conversations between the leaders of the two countries that they still have different understandings of how this "stability" should be achieved.
From U.S.-China competition to global risk management
U.S. President Trump (right) received Chinese President Xi Jinping (left) at the White House on September 24. The meeting between the two received high international attention. (European News Agency file photo) Looking at it from another perspective, the Sichuan-Xi meeting itself is a kind of risk management. The United States and China need to maintain dialogue to avoid escalating miscalculations; they need to maintain economic and trade exchanges, and they also need to reduce the vulnerability caused by dependence on key supply chains and technology; they need to deal with common issues while safeguarding their respective security interests. "Managing risks while interacting" has become an important issue for the current international community in the face of China's rise.
The "de-risking" that has gradually emerged in the international community in recent years is a concrete manifestation of this kind of thinking. From the EU re-examining its economic dependence on China to the Group of Seven Major Industrial Countries (G7) continuing to emphasize economic security and supply chain resilience, countries are not seeking to fully decouple from China, but to reduce over-reliance in key areas, diversify risks and improve their own resilience. The Security and Defense Partnership Report adopted by the European Parliament in February this year also clearly mentioned that security and defense cooperation with Taiwan should be deepened and the EU's economic resilience should be strengthened through "de-risking".
The same is true in the security field. Just before the Trump-Xi meeting, representatives from eight countries including Australia, France, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Poland, South Korea and the United Kingdom jointly reiterated their opposition to any unilateral changes in the status quo across the Taiwan Strait during the United Nations General Assembly, and emphasized that the security, peace and prosperity of Europe and the Indo-Pacific region are increasingly closely linked.
Representatives from eight countries including Australia, France, Germany, Japan, New Zealand, Poland, South Korea and the United Kingdom jointly reiterated their opposition to any unilateral change in the status quo across the Taiwan Strait during the United Nations General Assembly. (File photo, taken from the official website of the Australian Ministry of Foreign Affairs) These developments deserve to be viewed calmly by Taiwanese society. Whenever high-level interactions between the United States and China receive attention, there will also be voices within Taiwan that are "suspicious of the United States" or "abandon Taiwan." However, the international community's management of China's risks does not mean a comprehensive confrontation with China; similarly, the development of China policies by various countries does not mean that they must sacrifice their relations with Taiwan. In fact, China policy and Taiwan policy can go hand in hand in practice.
For Taiwan, this also means that we must participate more actively in risk management in the international community. In the face of China's continued expansion and the security, economic, and institutional risks it brings, Taiwan needs and is maintaining close diplomatic cooperation with countries with similar ideals to jointly reduce the risk of miscalculation and conflict, and strengthen regional peace and resilience. Taking this Trump-Xi meeting as an example, our government maintained good communication with the Trump administration and all walks of life in the United States before the meeting, and continued to exchange views on important issues related to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and Taiwan-U.S. relations. The relevant communication channels are stable and smooth. After the Trump-Xi meeting, US Ambassador to China David Perdue also said in an interview that "the US policy towards Taiwan has not changed." This once again shows that continuous and stable communication and mutual trust between Taiwan and its major partners are an important part of maintaining stability in the Taiwan Strait.
IPAC CEO: The international community needs to think about the "one Taiwan policy"
This is also a point that deserves to be taken seriously in recent discussions on the "one-China policy". Each country's China policy is a policy framework based on its own history, diplomacy, and national interests; but this does not mean that the "one-China principle" advocated by Beijing is equivalent to each country's own policy, nor does it mean that China can independently determine Taiwan's space in the international community.
As Luke de Pulford, CEO of the Inter-Parliamentary Alliance on China Policy (IPAC), recently called, the international community can retain the existing "One China Policy," but it also needs to think about a "One-Taiwan Policy" that more clearly responds to the reality of Taiwan's 23 million people participating in the international community.
In fact, since the mid-1980s, Taiwan has promoted the transformation of its political system through liberalization and democratization within the country. It has gone through congressional reelection and direct presidential election to build the national system and power base of the Taiwanese Republic of China with "Taiwan" as the main body. The government of the Republic of China is the only legal government that effectively rules and represents Taiwan to the outside world, thus forming a status quo in which the Republic of China, Taiwan, and the People's Republic of China exist as equals and are not subordinate to each other. Taiwan has its own democratic system, economic system, social and international responsibilities. It is two different political entities from China. Of course, countries can develop "policies toward Taiwan" (One Taiwan Policy) that are in line with their own interests in addition to the existing "policy toward China" (one-China policy).
The Taiwan Representative Office in Germany held a symposium on "Interpretation and Impact of United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2758" in Berlin on September 17. Pei Lunde (fourth from left) called on the international community to retain the existing "One China Policy," but at the same time, it also needs to think about a "One-Taiwan Policy." (Central News Agency file photo)
The United States is a specific example. The United States has a policy framework formed by three joint communiqués towards China, while towards Taiwan it has the Taiwan Relations Act, the Six Assurances and relevant bills long passed by Congress as its institutional basis. These arrangements have different legal and policy sources and do not conflict with each other. The long-term policies of the United States towards Taiwan have also remained consistent through multiple presidents and governments. Recently, cross-party members of the U.S. Congress have continued to reaffirm the Taiwan Relations Act and the Six Assurances, support Taiwan in strengthening its self-defense capabilities, and oppose Beijing's one-China principle.
As far as Taiwan-US relations are concerned, on the security side, the U.S. government continues to sell arms to Taiwan, and Taiwan is also committed to strengthening its self-defense capabilities and the resilience of the entire society, and has increased its defense budget to more than 3% of GDP, working towards the implementation of "responsibility sharing." On the economic side, the two sides have moved from trade and two-way investment to cooperation in semiconductors, AI supply chains, and industrial ecosystems, and have improved economic resilience and supply chain security through structures such as EPPD and "Silicon Era." Taiwan and the United States are gradually forming a "symbiotic partnership" covering security, economy, technology and industry.
The same trend is occurring in Europe and the Indo-Pacific. The EU's strategic environmental assessment report in September this year pointed out that China's aggressive behavior in the Taiwan Strait, East China Sea and South China Sea will have a more profound impact on European and Indo-Pacific security, and emphasized that any action that changes the status quo in the Taiwan Strait will impact global security.
U.S. Undersecretary of State Jacob Helberg (left) recently issued a statement after meeting with Director of the American Institute in Taiwan Gu Liyan (right) that Taiwan and the United States are cooperating through the "Silicon Age" initiative to ensure the security of key supply chains that drive the AI revolution. (File photo, taken from the Heiberger
Taiwan is a partner for global peace and resilience
These changes also show that Taiwan does not need to underestimate itself. In the past, when China joined the WTO and globalization expanded rapidly, Taiwan faced the dilemma of having its international space compressed many times. Today, the international community has a greater understanding of the economic, security, and institutional risks posed by China, and pays more attention to Taiwan's role in democracy, technology, supply chains, and regional security.
Especially as China continues to distort UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 and link it to the "one-China principle", the international community has gradually paid more attention to distinguishing the text of the resolution from subsequent political interpretation. UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 deals with the issue of China's representation in the United Nations. The resolution itself does not mention Taiwan, nor does it authorize the People's Republic of China to represent Taiwan in the United Nations system.
Facing the rise of China and the challenges it brings, what the international community needs is pragmatic risk management. Taiwan is the defender of the status quo across the Taiwan Strait and a contributor to regional peace. When the international community jointly thinks about how to manage China's risks, Taiwan should also actively cooperate with countries with similar ideals to jointly reduce risks, maintain peace, and strengthen resilience. Taiwan should not be seen as a problem that needs to be dealt with, but as a partner in maintaining peace, resilience and prosperity.
The EU emphasizes that United Nations Resolution 2758 does not mention Taiwan and that Taiwan should be allowed to participate in the international system. The picture shows the appearance of the United Nations Headquarters. (European News Agency file photo)
