Uncommon bonds: US support for Taiwan

A bipartisan resolution introduced recently in the House and Senate reaffirms US support for Taiwan and its membership in international organizations while rejecting the “One China Principle” by which Beijing claims control over Taiwan.

The US officially acknowledges Beijing’s position that Taiwan is part of China but does not agree with the claim.

“Not only is Taiwan a thriving democracy of 23 million people but a hub for the global semiconductor industry that powers everything from your cell phone to your washing machine,” Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chair Jim Risch, R-Idaho, one of the lead cosponsors, told Semafor in a statement. “To protect the American economy and our way of life, we must help Taiwan deter Chinese aggression.”

The Senate measure is also backed by the Foreign Relations panel’s top Democrat Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, in addition to Sens. Pete Ricketts, R-Neb., and Chris Coons, D-Del.

On the House side, its sponsors include Foreign Affairs Committee members Reps. Young Kim, R-Calif., and Ami Bera, D-Calif., and China committee leaders John Moolenaar, R-Mich., and Raja Krishnamoorthi, D-Ill.

The Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office in the US expressed appreciation for the resolution, telling Semafor in a statement that it would “continue to work closely with the US Congress and the administration to foster closer bilateral cooperation and deepen this critical partnership.”

The robust support for Taiwan contrasts with the now-eroded bipartisan support for Ukraine, which fell apart thanks to Republican fatigue over sending tens of billions of dollars in military assistance and other aid to Kyiv to help it fight Russia.

Bonnie Glaser, managing director of German Marshall Fund’s Indo-Pacific program, said Taiwan is a fundamentally different issue because of the island’s robust investment in the US and high-tech sector, as well as the strong “anti-China sentiment” in Congress that helps propel its support in Washington.

“The kind of divisions that we’ve seen on Ukraine, I think, are less likely to appear as it pertains to Taiwan,” said Glaser.

Some critics of Ukraine aid have also argued that the US should focus vital military resources not on Ukraine but on preparing to aid Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion, viewing China as a bigger long-term threat to the US.

Perhaps the most senior Republican making that argument: Vice President JD Vance, who played a central role in Friday’s remarkable blowup of US-Ukraine talks.

But Ukraine aid supporters have argued that the Russian attacks on its neighbor are interrelated with Taiwan’s potential independence. They say keeping up support for Ukraine against Russia will serve as a deterrent against any Chinese action against Taiwan.

“If we continue to stand strongly with Ukraine, I think unmistakably the message that sends to [Chinese leader] Xi Jinping is that we’ll work with our allies and partners to impose real costs on the PRC if they were to take the step of trying to militarily conquer Taiwan,” Coons told Semafor, using an acronym for the People’s Republic of China. “I think that continues to be a bipartisan perspective.”

President Donald Trump declined to comment last week when asked whether it was the policy of his administration not to allow China to take Taiwan by force.

“I never comment on that … because I don’t want to ever put myself in that position. And if I said it, I certainly wouldn’t say it to you. I’d be saying it to other people, maybe people around this table,” he said at a Cabinet meeting.

In doing so, Trump distinguished himself from comments made by former President Joe Biden about defending Taiwan in the event of a Chinese attack. His White House went so far as to clarify that his remarks did not represent a change in the US policy of deliberate ambiguity about such a potential incursion.

A former Trump administration national security official told Semafor that Trump’s comments were an example of him reverting to that strategic ambiguity. “That approach fits with his general approach to negotiations, which is that unpredictability is a source of leverage,” the former official said.

“The US needs to abide by the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiqués, act on its commitment of not supporting ‘Taiwan independence,’ stop abetting ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces, and stop interfering in China’s internal affairs on the Taiwan question,” Liu Pengyu, a spokesperson for the Chinese embassy in Washington, told Semafor when asked for comment on the bipartisan resolution about Taiwan.