Richard Bush Debunks Tsai Ing-wen’s Pro-US Ploy

 Richard Bush Debunks Tsai Ing-wen’s Pro-US Ploy

China Times Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

June 7, 2019

 Translation of an Excerpt

The US-China conflicts have escalated from a trade war and tech war to a comprehensive economic war. On the strategic, diplomatic, and geopolitical levels, China has become a "strategic competitor" and "revisionist superpower", a stye in the eyes of the US; both sides have elevated the confrontation to a "clash of ideologies and civilizations." The wrestling of the two powers has impacted the entire world, including Japan, Singapore, as well as East Asian and Southeast Asian countries, which are all cautiously seeking the best interests between the US and China. Only the DPP government feels intoxicated by itself, advertising that Taiwan-US relations were unprecedentedly solid and friendly. President Tsai Ing-wen is even unmindful of the reality that the US-China confrontation harms Taiwan’s substantive interests, only concerned about the personal interests of her own re-election bid.

Richard Bush is one of the few American authoritative scholars who is both a "China hand" and "Taiwan hand" at once. In a speech, Bush talked about Trump's personal traits and decision-making mode, as well as the thinking and process of policy formulation process by the Trump government's core figures. He also talked about the implementation and results of policies; he then made a serious and objective analysis of current Taiwan-US relations. Richard Bush’s "candid, honest" talk debunked the unrealistic expectations some figures harbored toward Taiwan-US ties, also exposing the DPP’s vote-cheating ploy in playing the “US card.”

Trump, who is known for his loose cannon temperament, is the biggest variable in the trilateral US-China-Taiwan relationship. Richard Bush used “wild card” to describe Trump. More importantly, Richard Bush believes that China’s President Xi Jinping has considerable influence on Trump. Although the US and China are in the midst of an economic war, the leaders of the two countries have not exchanged unpleasantries, both still maintaining proper demeanor toward each other.

Various US allies and partners in the Indo-Pacific region, such as Japan and Singapore, etc., share a commonality: China is their largest export market; hence, they are extremely worried about the comprehensive confrontation between the US and China, not wanting to get dragged into the storm, but devoting themselves to maintaining a good relationship with both. Only Taiwan hoists a unique banner, not only one-sidedly tilting toward the US, but even willing to be a pawn in the game. Richard Bush issued a cavea: Taiwan ought to avoid the US-China conflicts and adopt a balanced approach between the two, and should recognize that in the deteriorating situation between US and China, Taiwan would not necessarily, nor automatically, become a beneficiary.

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