Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

In recent months, a number of Chinese apologists have made the case that “abandoning” Taiwan to China would help improve strategic cooperation between Washington and Beijing. In their view, Taiwan remains the last impediment to a flourishing relationship between the two giants, and therefore yielding to Beijing’s irredentist claims on Taiwan would somehow unlock a future of manifold promises and stability.

In the name of journalistic neutrality, this newspaper has given space for this argument and has allowed those who disagree with such a strategy to also make their case. However, facts alone suffice to discredit calls for the international community — and ultimately on Taiwanese themselves — to sacrifice Taiwan for a more constructive relationship with Beijing.

Several US academics have argued in recent articles that the US should distance itself from Taiwan because China’s power and influence are rising and it would become more “costly” for the US to maintain close ties with Taipei, and in particular maintain its defense obligations under the Taiwan Relations Act.

Charles Glaser of George Washington University argued along those lines in a recent article in Foreign Affairs, while Bob Sutter, of the same university, recently painted an equally gloomy picture, saying that the rise of China is giving Beijing leverage over Taiwan. Glaser added that in light of Taiwan’s weakening economic, diplomatic and military positions, the status quo in the Taiwan Strait was becoming unsustainable, meaning Taiwan has very limited options for its future and unification with China was virtually inevitable.