One day after the Aug. 14 arrival of a U.S. congressional delegation in Taipei, Taiwan’s capitol, China’s military conducted combat patrols in the waters and air space around the island nation. A Chinese military official announced, “We will take all necessary measures and resolutely defend national sovereignty and the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait.” Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said 30 Chinese People’s Liberation Army warplanes and five vessels were detected in the Taiwan Strait on Aug. 15.
After House Speaker Nancy Pelosi arrived in Taiwan for a visit earlier in August, the first such visit by a U.S. speaker of the House in 25 years, Beijing also responded with military exercises. Harsh condemnation of the visit accompanied China’s suspension of all cooperation with the U.S. on climate policy, cancellation of meetings between U.S. and Chinese defense officials and a halt to cooperation on the repatriation of illegal immigrants and legal assistance on criminal matters.
After nationalist Chinese forces established a rival government on Taiwan in 1949, Beijing has viewed the island as an illegitimate breakaway province and an inalienable part of China’s territory. Since the 1970s, the U.S. has officially recognized only Beijing, but it also supplies Taiwan with weapons and provides diplomatic support. Between The Lines’ Scott Harris spoke with Joseph Gerson, president of the Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security, who talks about the danger in rising tensions between the U.S. and China over Taiwan and how relations between Washington and Beijing could be improved.
JOSEPH GERSON: You know, to understand what’s happening in relationship to Taiwan, I guess two things I emphasize. One is the danger that an accident or miscalculation of our military forces could lead to escalating conflict, including even the possibility of nuclear conflict as we think about especially the nationalist forces on both sides. So that’s the most immediate thing we have to be thinking about.
We have to step back and think about the larger context. And the larger context is what’s called the Thucydides trap — the tradition, the pattern of rising and declining powers. Empires almost always, but not quite always, ending up in disastrous conflicts and wars. So we had two of these, for example, in the 20th century when the dominant powers, Britain and the United States were unable to integrate rising powers, Germany and Japan, into their systems.
And if you will, I’d say we have a situation in which the United States is attempting to defend what’s politely called its hegemony and less politely called its empire across Asia-Pacific. I mean, we need to remember that for as far back as 1898, when the United States was conquering the Philippines, Guam, annexing Hawaii, the purpose was to gain access to the China market.
And, you know, the second World War, while it was anti-Nazi work in Europe, in Asia in the Pacific, it was a war between three empires: Japan, the United States and Britain. The U.S. won the Pacific, became an American lake. The Chinese have now come out of what they perceive to be 150 years of humiliation by Western states in relationship to Taiwan.
I have to say, the Biden administration has made one mistake after another. You know, at the foundation of U.S.-Chinese relations since 1979 has been U.S. recognition of One China and which holds strategic ambiguity whether or not the United States would actually defend Taiwan in the case of a military conflict. Well, we’ve had with the Biden administration is backing away from that, moving towards support for Taiwanese independence, rather than focusing on trying to maintain some degree of stability and negotiations between Taiwan, which is an increasingly democratic society, and China.
So you have, for example, talking points on the State Department’s web page which have been removed, statements to the effect that we respected the one-China policy or that we opposed Taiwan Declaration of Independence. Those have been removed.
So then you have Pelosi coming. You know, she’s not just anybody. She’s the third most powerful figure under our Constitution. Now, followed by, you know, by this delegation. So that’s what we’ve been seeing. We saw actually with Biden this inauguration is an effort by the Washington elite to bring Taiwan fully into the U.S. sphere, which the Chinese government believing Taiwan to be a renegade province, separated from them for 125 years, first by Japan and then by the United States, you know, they’re signaling that they’re not happy about this.
SCOTT HARRIS: When it comes to the escalating tensions between the United States and China, who benefits from that? I’m guessing defense contractors and weapons makers are the folks who directly benefit from increased militarism in the region. But the other side of that question, of course, is how could U.S.-China relations be improved at this point?
JOSEPH GERSON: Well, I think the most obvious step would be to basically re-begin, recommence, what we’ve called the strategic and economic security discussions — whose kind of a semiannual meeting between top economic and military leaders are on both sides to kind of share where their red lines are and to talk about how to avoid crossing them. You know, while we’re dancing around the danger of a massive war, we’re avoiding dealing with the second of the existential threats we face, which is the climate catastrophe.
And the reality is that’s not going to be addressed unless you have cooperation by the United States and China, which are the two biggest emitters of greenhouse gases and have the power to begin to pull this in control.
For more information, visit the Campaign for Peace, Disarmament and Common Security at cpdcs.org.
Listen to Scott Harris’ in-depth interview with Joseph Gerson (27:06) and see more articles and opinion pieces in the Related Links section of this page.
For the best listening experience and to never miss an episode, subscribe to Between The Lines on your favorite podcast app or platform: Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts, Amazon Music, Tunein + Alexa, Castbox, Overcast, Podfriend, iHeartRadio, Castro, Pocket Casts, RSS Feed.
