While Other Countries Deploy for Trump’s Asia Visit, Taiwan Deals with Alert and Caution

 While Other Countries Deploy for Trump’s Asia Visit, Taiwan Deals with Alert and Caution

United Daily News Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

November 2, 2017

 Translation of an Excerpt

On the eve of Trump's visit to Asia, when Tsai Ing-wen made a stop-over in Hawaii with meticulous arrangements, shouting "Taiwan-US relations have never been better," Xi Jinping, together with Moon Jae-in, broke the impasse caused by South Korea’s deployment of the THAAD missile defense system. Earlier, U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson visited Asia, separately, paving the way for the "Indian-Pacific strategy" to be promoted by Trump. Japan echoes the United States, advocating a Japan-US-India-Australia quadripartite strategic dialogue mechanism. Trump has not yet departed for his Asia trip [referring to November 2], yet the countries concerned crumbled to conduct strategic deployment; Taiwan must all the more deal with the situation with extreme caution.

Prior to Trump's visit, Mainland China and South Korea have, through a deal of strategic security and politico-economic interests, broken their deadlock. Moon Jae-in led South Korean enterprises in returning to the Mainland Chinese market, thus securing powerful bargaining chips in confronting Trump's economic and trade pressures. It also helps South Korea in seeking Mainland China’s assistance in resolving the issue of North Korea's nuclear and missile tests. Xi Jinping, on the other hand, as an initial step, dispelled the misgivings on strategic security caused by THAAD, and prevented a US-Japan-South Korea military alliance, thus grabbing the opportunity to stabilize the regional balance of power.

On the other hand, although Trump, in this trip, is stressing the North Korea nuclear issue, and fairness and reciprocity in economic/trade relations, his new "Indian-Pacific strategy” intends to link allies in Northeast Asia and Southeast Asia to South Asia in an effort to curb China's power and maintain the United States leadership status in the Indian-Pacific region. Japan, all the more, wants to strive for, taking advantage of Trump’s visit, an alliance between Japan, the United States, India and Australia, establishing a quadripartite mechanism of dialogue, promoting free trade and defense security cooperation from the South China Sea through the Indian Ocean to Africa, in actuality, Japan targets the "One Belt, One Road” initiative, seeking an alliance to counter China's economic and military expansion.

Along with Trump’s visit to Asia, China and South Korea broke their deadlock, while the United States and Japan also deployed beforehand. Nevertheless, the cross-Strait impasse continues, and Taiwan's worries and unease remain unabated. We wonder, when Tsai Ing-wen decided to traverse the road of "relying on the US, pro-Japan, and distancing from China," hadn’t she ever envisioned such a scenario would be a logical result? 

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