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US congressman introduces bill to scrap 'one China' policy,' normalize ties with Taiwan

TheChrome

Power Poster
TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — U.S. Congressman Tim Tiffany on Wednesday (Sept. 16) introduced a bill calling on the U.S. to put an end to the "one China" policy, resume formal relations with Taiwan, and begin negotiations on a U.S.-Taiwan Free Trade Agreement.

In a press release posted on Thursday, Tiffany pointed out that before 1979, the U.S. and Taiwan maintained normal and friendly diplomatic relations. However, then U.S. President Jimmy Carter suddenly broke off diplomatic relations with Taiwan "without legislative approval" and instead opted to recognize the communist regime in Beijing.

Tiffany stated that Congress later passed the "Taiwan Relations Act" (TRA) as the cornerstone of U.S.-Taiwan economic and cultural relations, while also authorizing the U.S. to sell arms to Taiwan. However, former President Ronald Reagan then "upgraded the relationship" by issuing the "Six Assurances."

Despite these measures, the U.S. still does not formally recognize Taiwan. The congressman lamented that his country is "inexplicably treating" Taiwan’s democratically elected government in the same way it treats the "brutal regimes" in North Korea and Iran.

According to the Concurrent Resolution proposed by Tiffany on Sept.16, the feeling in Congress is the U.S. should resume formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan, negotiate and sign a Free Trade Agreement (FTA), and support Taiwan in obtaining membership in international organizations. Sending a defiant message to Beijing, Tiffany then wrote, “America doesn’t need a permission slip from the Chinese Communist Party to talk to its friends and partners around the world."

Regarding the "one China" policy that the communist regime has shackled Taiwan and the U.S. with for decades, Tiffany wrote: "Now is the time for America to stop parroting Beijing’s ‘one China’ fantasy, and for U.S. policy to reflect the reality that Taiwan is a free, democratic and independent country."

Referring to Israel's normalized relations with former Arab foes, Tiffany added, "If the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain can normalize relations with Israel, certainly we can formalize our enduring friendship with Taiwan."

https://www.taiwannews.com.tw/en/news/4011647
 
Good. China is a menace, and have proven themselves to be untrustworthy multiple times to the international community. We should be making no concessions to them anymore.
 
Good. China is a menace, and have proven themselves to be untrustworthy multiple times to the international community. We should be making no concessions to them anymore.
I'm glad we'd be finally recognizing taiwan and reestablishing relations with them, but china has over the past few months massively increased their drills near the island, and they began to build up amphibious forces on their side of the strait last month. I'm worried that something like this could be the last straw.
 
America officially recognizing Taiwan as a separate, independent country from China would most likely spark a major war in SE Asia. The Chinese are as touchy about that subject as Americans are about 9/11. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
 
not just SE Asia. the US intervenes, and there would be naval battles all over the eastern pacific with chinese missile strikes against american bases.
Potentially, yes. I was trying to be less of a doomsayer, but it certainly could end up that way if allowed to escalate out of control.
 
America officially recognizing Taiwan as a separate, independent country from China would most likely spark a major war in SE Asia. The Chinese are as touchy about that subject as Americans are about 9/11. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Maybe. You are probably right. But I keep thinking...

China is close to being overextended. Most of their power right now is either soft power or simply holding financial doom over the countries they are exploiting through debt. They are busy little bees, making lots of new hardware, but for now are unable to project their power the way the US can. In fact, at this point I believe a credible argument could be made vs. their actual ability to invade Taiwan successfully.

On the other hand...

America could easily be forced to overextend. All it would take is two major conflicts in two parts of the world to seriously tax the US ability to maintain a long term front. Given a short amount of time the US would overcome that deficit, but in the meantime, a lot could happen.

So, I don't know. If the US does recognize Taiwan, will China definitely be willing to go to war over it? I mean, is that a hard line for them, cross this line and we have to fight? The way things are right now, I'm not sure. I think something like, invading Vietnam, or something else less strategic might be a response China would consider instead of outright war with the US. Or, is that what you meant by war in SE Asia? Because I can definitely see that happening. But the Vietnamese might not be as easy as China would hope they were. In fact, I can guarantee that.

The above is mostly just me writing out my thoughts and I'm genuinely interested in whether or not the US could take on China and simultaneously, say, Iran. Or worse, however unlikely, Russia. Or, how likely is it China will actually be willing to take on the US in full scale war over Taiwan?
 
On one hand, this could trigger conflict with China, yes. On the other hand, how much of Chinese infiltration, dealbreaking, and strongarming over their neighbours should we tolerate? I've said it before, but the whole situation with CCP China seems very similar to Nazi Germany to me, particularly the appeasement. Would further appeasement actually prevent conflict, or simply delay it until China is an even bigger threat to the world? Many historians believe that WWII could have been largely stopped by the Allies acting faster to stop aggressive German expansion.

China has continually pushed to expand, from occupying Tibet, to salami slicing foggy borders in it's hinterlands, to building islands with military bases in the south China sea and claiming all of it. Not too long ago, they broke the "one country two systems" treaty in Hong Kong by taking over the city directly. Appeasement so far has not stopped their aggressive expansion, and if war is inevitable, then it is better to get it done with quickly then to delay it until a greater loss of life unfolds.
 
On one hand, this could trigger conflict with China, yes. On the other hand, how much of Chinese infiltration, dealbreaking, and strongarming over their neighbours should we tolerate? I've said it before, but the whole situation with CCP China seems very similar to Nazi Germany to me, particularly the appeasement. Would further appeasement actually prevent conflict, or simply delay it until China is an even bigger threat to the world? Many historians believe that WWII could have been largely stopped by the Allies acting faster to stop aggressive German expansion.

China has continually pushed to expand, from occupying Tibet, to salami slicing foggy borders in it's hinterlands, to building islands with military bases in the south China sea and claiming all of it. Not too long ago, they broke the "one country two systems" treaty in Hong Kong by taking over the city directly. Appeasement so far has not stopped their aggressive expansion, and if war is inevitable, then it is better to get it done with quickly then to delay it until a greater loss of life unfolds.
i see what you mean with this being similar to appeasement prior to ww2. germany made moves on austria, czechoslovakia, and then poland finally set it all off. china has already made moves on the SCS and hong kong. taiwan could be the final straw.
 
Maybe. You are probably right. But I keep thinking...

China is close to being overextended. Most of their power right now is either soft power or simply holding financial doom over the countries they are exploiting through debt. They are busy little bees, making lots of new hardware, but for now are unable to project their power the way the US can. In fact, at this point I believe a credible argument could be made vs. their actual ability to invade Taiwan successfully.

On the other hand...

America could easily be forced to overextend. All it would take is two major conflicts in two parts of the world to seriously tax the US ability to maintain a long term front. Given a short amount of time the US would overcome that deficit, but in the meantime, a lot could happen.

So, I don't know. If the US does recognize Taiwan, will China definitely be willing to go to war over it? I mean, is that a hard line for them, cross this line and we have to fight? The way things are right now, I'm not sure. I think something like, invading Vietnam, or something else less strategic might be a response China would consider instead of outright war with the US. Or, is that what you meant by war in SE Asia? Because I can definitely see that happening. But the Vietnamese might not be as easy as China would hope they were. In fact, I can guarantee that.

The above is mostly just me writing out my thoughts and I'm genuinely interested in whether or not the US could take on China and simultaneously, say, Iran. Or worse, however unlikely, Russia. Or, how likely is it China will actually be willing to take on the US in full scale war over Taiwan?

China does not have to project power to take Taiwan. Taiwan lies only about 100 miles off the Chinese mainland. But the US *does* have to project power to defend Taiwan because Taiwan is over 5,000 miles from Hawaii and 7,500 miles from CONUS. We simply do not have the assets currently in place to fight off a full-scale invasion of the island by the full might of the Chinese military, and by the time we did get the necessary assets in place, it would be over with.

The US defense of Taiwan has always been based on the threat of nuclear weapons, just like the US defense of Western Europe from the Soviet Union was. However, the US has shown no backbone to actually carry through with this threat over the past decade or so.

My assessment is that if China does launch a full-scale invasion of Taiwan, the US would put up an initial fight using what conventional air and naval power we have in the region. But China can afford 100,000 casualties to take Taiwan. 100,000 US casualties would be political suicide for whoever is in office at the time. The US will offer a token show of force and then back off as soon as they lose a few dozen fighter jets.

I still cling to my suspicion that Beijing and Moscow are coordinating simultaneous military movements on Ukraine and Taiwan, knowing that the US would be unable to stop such a move conventionally, and gambling that the US would be unwilling to stop it strategically.
 
I still cling to my suspicion that Beijing and Moscow are coordinating simultaneous military movements on Ukraine and Taiwan, knowing that the US would be unable to stop such a move conventionally, and gambling that the US would be unwilling to stop it strategically.

I agree. In fact, I'd say it seems like a foolish wasted opportunity if they are not engaging in some kind of mutual shenanigans.
 
I agree. In fact, I'd say it seems like a foolish wasted opportunity if they are not engaging in some kind of mutual shenanigans.
Also, it is likely China is facing a massive food shortage very soon. War might be a good way to get rid of some those pesky excess hungry mouths.
 
This bill will most likely not pass. However, the symbolic gesture of its introduction is enormous.

Tiffany is a Republican. I find the timing of this bill incredibly interesting.
 
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