Pence’s Bellicose Talk and South China Sea Drills Lead to TAIEX Plunge

  Pence’s Bellicose Talk and South China Sea Drills Lead to TAIEX Plunge

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

October 9, 2018

 Translation of an Excerpt

The TAIEX has continued to plunge in recent days, breaking below the psychological level of 10,500 points. One of the reasons is that the US treasury bills’ yields have climbed, leading to an influx of foreign capital and reverberations in global stock markets; the second reason is that US Vice President Pence has delivered a bellicose, anti-China speech, and at the same time, it was reported that the US Pacific Fleet would conduct military drills for one week in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait. As economic factors are tangled with political factors, the TAIEX has suffered the greatest.

The United States will hold mid-term elections on November 6; at this time, Pence delivered a fiery, anti-China speech, obviously intending to boost the Trump government’s mid-term electoral campaign. Coupled with the US Navy's military exercises in the South China Sea and the Taiwan Strait next month, it would be able to create atmospherics of tension, galvanizing the centripetal force of Republican supporters. While recounting old US-China grievances, Pence also lauded Taiwan’s embrace of democracy as a better road for the Chinese, and condemning Beijing for pressuring Taiwan’s diplomatic partners to cut their ties with the latter, which has threatened the stability in the Taiwan Strait. Thus spoken, it is tantamount to pulling Taiwan into the operations of the US-China confrontation.

In as far as the Trump government is concerned, utilizing a trade war plus military drills to suppress China’s airs and boost the Republican electoral campaign is of course a tactic of hitting two birds with one stone. However, as far as Taiwan is concerned, we will hold the nine-in-one local elections at the end of November; at this time, if Taiwan is embroiled in the US-China gunfire, it is obviously a calamity, not a blessing. On this point, from the TAIEX deep plunge to a startling point, we could see the general picture. For this reason, our response at this moment must absolutely be prudently considered to avoid misjudgments.

In fact, steady and senior figures in the US foreign policy community have aired their caveats. Former Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Daniel Russel indicated that if US-China relations became even more tense, Taiwan would possibly fare no better. Susan Thornton, who recently retired as Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian Affairs, also said that US-China relations were now deteriorating; Taiwan must maintain a stable and consistent pace and not overreact.

What we must remind everyone is that Taiwan’s national security is the responsibility of the government, and whether the Tsai government wants to allow Taiwan’s elections to be embroiled in the international gunsmoke of the US-China struggle for hegemony, it must take one firm step at a time with caution. The DPP has never been afraid of initiating frictions and causing trouble, and likes to play the anti-China card. However, when vox populi has come to a turning point, never lightly stir up the public's nerves. On this point, it is plain to just look at the startling plunge of the TAIEX.

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