U.S. President Trump’s tough attitude should have made the U.S. greater, but instead has weakened its ability to protect Taiwan, according to an Economist article published on Friday. The piece titled “A superpower crunch over Taiwan is coming; China has a new chance to call America’s bluff” is an analysis questioning Washington's strategy of maintaining peace through force and whether Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) might take military action towards Taiwan.
The Economist points out that this U.S.-China tariff wrestling match has become an endurance race, and Beijing believes that it has the ability to hold on to the end. Trump’s 32% tariff on Taiwan and requiring TSMC to move its chip production capacity to the United States further weakens the foundation of U.S. alliances in the Asia-Pacific region.
However, scholars are mostly reserved about this. National Chengchi University Institute of International Relations Researcher Tang Shao-cheng (湯紹成) said that even if the United States is affected by the tariff war and the country descends into chaos, it will not completely lose its ability to intervene in East Asia.
Nanhua University Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies Professor Sun Guoxiang (孫國祥) stressed that the U.S. has made a heavy move by imposing a high tariff of 145% on China, and we now have to observe the development of China’s internal economy. He said that if China is really not affected, then it can replace the United States in the international arena, and Taiwan will naturally become China's possession. Sun points out that if it is banking on this scenario, it wouldn’t use force against Taiwan now and make itself the target of public criticism.