War or Peace in US-China Trade Conflict: What Is the Path for Taiwan

 War or Peace in US-China Trade Conflict: What Is the Path for Taiwan

China Times Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

April 11, 2018

 Translation of an Excerpt

Mainland State President Xi Jinping delivered a keynote address at the annual meeting of the Boao Forum in Asia, with the essence of "freedom and opening up". He proclaimed that China would greatly ease market entry, create a more attractive investment environment, strengthen the protection of intellectual property rights, and reduce tariffs to expand imports in order to create a "community of shared destiny for mankind."

Viewed from the long stream of history, it is inevitable for the two big powers, the US and China, to engage in fierce competition in the future, and it will be sustained for a not too short period of time. China advocates "free trade," conquering city after city across the world; the United States (possibly coalescing with the other big powers), on the other hand, stressed “justified defense" to forestall the rise of China.

President Trump’s thinking is simple, that is, traditional “mercantilist” ideology, holds that the huge trade deficits reduced US production and employment. US imports from China far exceed that of China’s from the US; and the US is the party that possesses bargaining advantages, with no reason that it could not win this trade war.

However, Trump overlooked that the Chinese leadership "has no" pressure of ballots, while Trump has a slew of realistic voters who may swing like a weather vane. At the juncture that President Xi has just passed the constitutional amendment deleting term-limits, while China as one nation hopes to nurture in unison the “China dream,” China, of course, has the determination to win this trade war; however, Xi Jinping has opted for the peaceful path of a "community of shared destiny for mankind."

Taiwan is sandwiched between the United States and China, how it should behave is extremely awkward. When it fails to handle it well, Taiwan’s economy could fall into an embarrassed situation of a bottomless pit. Facing the US, a country which plays the "Taiwan card" with Beijing, but may at any time let Taiwan become an “abandoned chess piece” of the game theory, the United States has to date not offered us any economic commitments. How to choose in this trade war is seriously testing our wisdom.

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