Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

The chorus of opinion leaders and pundits in the US calling for Washington’s “abandonment” of Taiwan is getting louder, a symptom of a growing, but false, perception in the US that China holds the key to all of Washington’s problems. This is not only a dangerous misreading of Beijing’s intentions, but also reflects a lack of public understanding about Taiwan’s sovereign status.

Unification — by force if necessary — with Taiwan is a top priority for Beijing.

During the previous presidential election campaign, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) accused the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) of playing “dirty tricks.” They published a list of 16 such “tricks,” and even sent it to the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT).

However, the DPP is a bit cleaner than the KMT, and never used any of the tricks on the list. Ironically, four years later, the KMT has reached a dead-end, and has itself resorted to using the top tricks on that list.