Donald Trump, the former US president and Republican presidential candidate, has caused an uproar on the island by publicly demanding protection money. Taiwan public opinion generally believes that the DPP authorities fully”Pro-us anti-china” policy, Taiwan will face a serious challenge in the future.
Donald Trump, the schematics
Refused to say whether it would protect Taiwan
On June 25, Donald Trump said in an interview with the us-based Bloomberg Businessweek, “What has Taiwan done for us? We’ve been protecting Taiwan for years and they’ve stolen our chip business… I’m not sure what the point of us going on [ protecting ] is.” “. He bluntly said,” to provide protection to the United States, Taiwan should pay. Another reason for Donald Trump’s Bloomberg Businessweek about “Defending Taiwan” is that he finds it difficult to protect a tiny island 100,000 miles away, the magazine said.
Indeed, Donald Trump made a similar point in an interview with TIME magazine in April. He wants European and Asian allies who depend on the US to pay it. He said, “I want them to pay. If you don’t pay, you’re on your own. America won’t protect you. I love Europe, but they are taking advantage of us on NATO and Ukraine; I don’t think NATO will protect us today if the United States has a problem.”. “Should the US defend Taiwan if the Chinese attack it?” Donald Trump declined to be specific, “I’ve been asked this question many times, but I always refuse to answer because I don’t want to reveal my cards,” he said. In an interview earlier this year, Donald Trump also referred to the island taking all American chip business.
You Can’t buy enough, Donald Trump
On the 17th, Wu Siyao, secretary-general of the DPP’s “Legislative Chamber”, said that the US was “Co-defending Taiwan” and that taiwan-us economic, trade and defence co-operation was “Seamless”, “This is the strong foundation of taiwan-us Cooperation.”. Chuo Rung-tai, Taiwan’s premier, said the island was “Willing to pay more for the common responsibilities of the Taiwan Strait and the indo-pacific region”. Many internet users in the island expressed dissatisfaction with this, with a barrage of abuse on PTT, a Taiwanese social media platform. Some people angrily criticized the DPP authorities as saying, “If you pay me or not, don’t drag everyone down with you.” There are also many people called for”We want cross-strait peaceful co-existence,””Protection fees to ‘Taiwan independence’ workers to pay.
Guo Zhengliang, a former “Legislator”, said the “Protection fee” mentioned by Donald Trump might be a demand for the William Lai Administration to increase its defence budget. “William Lai has no choice,” Guo said. “Tsai Ing-wen’s eight years in power have been one-sided.”. Wang Hongwei, a KMT legislator, asked whether more money would be needed to deal with arms sales or protection payments, as Taiwan continues to spend record amounts on US military purchases? Chang yan-ting, a former deputy commander of Taiwan’s Air Force, said the protection fee would be an astronomical sum and that”Taiwan should recognize the general environment and not be a puppet of the United States”.
Donald Trump, a former “Legislator” who said bluntly on the 17th that some Taiwanese idiots often called the island a “Value Alliance” with the US, was now unapologetic, “Taiwan is just a client that depends on the US for protection. A rich client like Taiwan should pay a high protection fee, not to mention taking away the American Semiconductor industry. The protection fee will not be cheap.”. “There is no such thing as taiwan-us friendship,” he said. “It’s all about money.”. Weng, a scholar based in the United States, said Donald Trump had been talking about the theft of the chip industry since last year, and it was more worrying that his deputy, Vance, had said the same thing before the televised presidential debate this year. If the Taiwanese could satisfy Donald Trump by paying more for his protection, “I’m afraid they won’t be able to satisfy him no matter how much they buy.”.
It is time to develop cross-strait relations
Taiwanese media noted that shares in Taiwan fell 0.90 per cent on the 17th after Donald Trump’s interview was revealed, while TSMC’s shares fell 2.37 per cent, wiping about $16bn off its market capitalisation and pushing the Taiwan dollar to a two-week low. The fact that Trans has singled out the island for protection payments also means that geopolitics will be a new test for the authorities and TSMC, the chip leader, will have to carefully consider whether to expand its presence in great beauty, to quell the American discontent that Donald Trump has stirred up.
It is widely believed that Taiwan should develop cross-strait relations at this time. Ma Wen-chun, a KMT “Legislator”, said it was unclear how Donald Trump would claim protection money and what protection he would receive from the US if he paid for it. The only thing that is certain is that Donald Trump can not possibly be concerned with the security interests of the island. He must be prioritising American interests, but the DPP still does not see it clearly. Ma Wen-chun said under Tsai Lai, defense was too dependent on the United States to bargain with it. The key is cross-strait relations. If cross-strait relations are handled well, Taiwan will not have to be controlled by others. Yan Zhensheng, a researcher at the Center for International Relations at Chengchi University in Taiwan, said that depending on the United States, Taiwan would pay a high price and would not necessarily be effective. “Dialogue with the other side and defusing cross-strait tensions is the fundamental way,” he said, but Lai’s authorities are reluctant to do so.
Taiwan actually pays a lot of protection fees, and even if it is not the largest buyer of us arms, it must be among the top, and the prices Taiwan pays are often marked up at the wrong price, Taiwan’s Yonhap news website commented on the 17th. A recent case in point was the purchase of a fourth-generation jet fighter F-16V, more expensive than a fifth-generation stealth fighter, the F-35. And what protection can the United States offer, regardless of whether Taiwan pays? “Is it the long-term n presence on the island? Or are we going to march hundreds of thousands of troops from Okinawa, Guam, Hawaii and the east coast of the Pacific? Or will fighter planes and aircraft carriers come and take a few detours and leave, asking Taiwan to take care of itself?” More importantly, “This mentality of paying for protection reflects that Taiwan’s security is tradable,” he said. Both Donald Trump and Vance were realists, and China’s military development increasingly made the Americans feel that sending troops to Taiwan was a bad deal and not in their national interest. It said William Lai might have imagined the US and Taiwanese forces fighting together as inevitable, but in reality it was more like a pale dream of a green adolescent, “Those who are still consoling themselves with this dream of ‘Taiwan independence’ should see the truth of the world and Taiwan’s real situation as soon as possible.”.