US-China tensions over Taiwan

Last Friday, a poll published by Taiwan’s Commonwealth Magazine mentioned that 35.4% of respondents said they were worried about a military conflict breaking out between the US and China over the Taiwan strait next year. 

 

Beijing has often rebuked the US over its stance on Taiwan, an independent country that is self-governed over which China claims sovereignty over. 

 

In a virtual summit meeting last November, President Xi Jinping told President Joe Biden that anyone advocating for Taiwanese sovereignty is ‘playing with fire’. President Biden said that the two leaders must ensure that competition between the powers does not ‘veer into conflict’. 

 

Back in 1979, Washington switched diplomatic allegiance from Taipei to Beijing and since then, the US has maintained a ‘one china’ policy where it sees Beijing as the only seat of the Government in China.

 

The Biden Administration has demonstrated strong support for Taiwan as it comes under pressure from China.  

 

Qin Gang, China’s ambassador to the United States, said that the Biden Administration was cutting out the ‘one china policy and ‘playing the Taiwan card to contain China’. 

 

During his first interview, Qin Gang accused Taiwan of ‘walking down the road toward independence’. He also mentioned, ‘If the Taiwanese authorities, emboldened by the United States, keep going down the road of independence, it most likely will involve China and the United States, the two big countries, in a military conflict.’

 

This week, 39 Chinese military fighter jets and other warplanes flew into Taiwan’s air defence identification zone (ADIZ) as an escalating campaign to pressure the government in Taipei and train for future military action. 

 

The US sells billions of dollars of weapons to Taiwan. Washington officials have also made statements suggesting that the US is likely to come to Taiwan’s aid military in case of a conflict. And for decades, the US has been operating on a policy of strategic ambiguity, however it does not state that it will defend Taiwan from any Chinese Invasion. The policy is designed to warn Taiwanese officials against declaring independence, which would undoubtedly  trigger a Chinese attack and make Beijing think twice about military action.