A high-ranking member of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) visited my office for a friendly discussion about the numerous difficulties in US-China relations. We talked about a number of issues — some of them very difficult — but even in that informal setting, Taiwan was a non-negotiable “core interest” of the party, with no place in the discussion.
The US should no longer accept these terms when talking to China. If we accept the false narrative that Taiwan is somehow “off-limits,” we are implicitly accepting the party’s lie that Taiwan’s status is a domestic matter, and we are contributing to Taiwan’s marginalization.