Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

The “US skeptic” and “Lai skeptic” arguments are gaining traction in Taiwanese political discourse, and might become a major campaign issue in the run-up to next year’s presidential election.

The former says that the US cannot be trusted to defend Taiwan should China launch an invasion, while the latter says that Washington does not have the faith in Vice President William Lai (賴清德) — a self-described “pragmatic independence worker” who is seeking the top job — that it has in President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文).

The decision to shift the potential meeting between President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy to California to avoid Beijing’s wrath is a geopolitical mistake that would further embolden China, and weaken Taiwan and the West’s resolve and principled deterrence. It makes Taiwan and the US look weak and all too willing to kowtow to Beijing’s threat of force, and sends the wrong message to the Asia-Pacific region.

The West and other regional and global players must deepen their collective stance, condemnation and deterrence against Beijing’s continuous bullying and coercion of Taiwan.