Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

It became the telephone call that was heard around the world; it was an earthquake that set off a world-class tsunami, and a change in atmospheric conditions that brought an unprecedented media hailstorm. Ironically, it was simply President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) calling US president-elect Donald Trump to congratulate him on his victory.

However, there is much more. As the dust settles and the news wires slowly return to normal, what now becomes evident is that it is clearly time for the rest of the world to wake up and smell the coffee. Life has moved on since World War II. Taiwan has gone from a one-party state imposed by a fleeing diaspora and it now has democracy. Thus, it is time for the US and its allies to tell the Chinese emperor that as far as this democracy is concerned, he has no clothes.

US president-elect Donald Trump’s telephone conversation with President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) on Friday last week made the headlines at home and abroad, with some accusing Trump of committing a diplomatic faux pas that rattled China, while others commended his decision to take Tsai’s call and described it as a significant landmark in Taiwan-US relations.

As political pundits and policymakers continue to debate whether it was a simple telephone call or a momentous mistake, while others try to decipher whether Trump’s move hints at the direction of his future policy in the Asia-Pacific region, one thing at least is certain: Taiwan’s diplomatic morale has been greatly boosted as a result of the historic call.