Opinion | Why Taiwan is the canary in the coal mine of US-China confrontation
- Taipei must not fall into trap of thinking its ‘Covid-19 diplomacy’ is without danger. Tsai should prevent the diplomatic storm from escalating in Taiwan Strait
- As Latin American becomes an arena for US and Chinese strategies to play out, its nations have switched from diplomatic recognition of Taipei to Beijing
“If you are not at the table, you are on the menu,” US Senator Michael Enzi once said. When the great powers sit at the geopolitical table, Taiwan has long been on the menu.
In fact, Thomas W. Robinson, a former professor at George Washington University, says that since the North Korean invasion of the South in June 1950, “Taiwan has become a continuous foreign policy protectorate of the United States. Had it not been for American security protection, Taiwan would long since have come under Beijing’s rule”.
During the Cold War era, the US grand strategy of “containment” sought to prevent the spread of communism after the end of World War II. This containment strategy supported Taiwan’s relations with Latin America. Aligned like others in the world with Washington’s decisions, most Latin American countries didn’t recognise the People’s Republic of China.
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Indeed, it is difficult to overstate Taiwan’s strategic importance to both the United States and an increasingly assertive China. The Taiwan Strait has long been the most likely flashpoint for a conflict between the two powers.