The world holds its breath over the contact between Donald Trump and the President of Taiwan. Presidents from Ronald Regan to Obama not only refused to initiate contact with Taiwan but also denied their calls, for very good reason. They understood the danger in negating the impasse that had been established with mainland China in adopting a “One China” policy. The Taipei Times contends that the Trump transition team contacted the President of Taiwan, regardless of Trumps tweets that dismissed criticism and claimed that it was Taiwan who initiated contact. He fails to understand that it doesn't matter to the Chinese.
Any acknowledgement that Taiwan is a legitimate country can pivot relations between China and the U.S. to a precarious and dangerous path toward conflict. This is much more serious than Trump apologists contend, and those who understand our history of relations with China are gravely concerned. Democratic leadership has commented that "This is how wars start", Republicans have been characteristically silent, with a couple of self-serving exceptions. Even they know this is a serious breach, though they are too cowardly to say so. Where is the voice of Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell, or are they only concerned with privatizing Social Security, Medicare, and Veteran’s benefits?
China is a slow moving giant, who's leaders actually think before they act, something Trump should try for a change. It's not out of the realm of possibility that China could go ahead and invade Taiwan by force, as they have repeatedly threatened to do, due to this perceived threat of an alliance with America. The initial response by China that it was a small error is typical of their strategy to deflect their true anger until a decision is made to react with aggression, which is beginning to emerge right now.
It's been suggested that Trump and his team simply didn't understand the implications of contact with Taiwan, but such is not the case. The flaunting of established policy that has global conflict implications is perhaps the most alarming of events in a generation. It may be, as speculated, that Trump is simply using this as another ploy to advance his goal to expand his real estate holdings in yet another geographical location, but again, it doesn’t matter.
For any in the media to downplay this event is a compounding of that mistake. Even if some in our country don’t get it, the rest of the world is paying attention.
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