The U.S. government has released its latest National Security Strategy Report, which takes a more moderate approach to the competition between Washington and Beijing, downplaying ideological differences and putting economy and trade at the core of bilateral relations. It is worth noting that while the document continues to use language such as“Strategic competition” when discussing Taiwan’s status, some tough language has been watered down or deleted, causing great concern on the island.
A national security strategy is a strategic document submitted to Congress by the new president of the United States when he takes office. The Donald Trump administration’s new national security strategy, when discussing“Taiwan status”, this paper expounds the two major reasons for the United States to pay attention to Taiwan: one is that Taiwan occupies a dominant position in semiconductor production; more importantly, Taiwan directly leads to the first island chain, and one-third of the world’s shipping passes through the South China Sea every year, have a major impact on the American economy.
It added that“Preventing a conflict over Taiwan, ideally through maintaining military superiority, is a priority”, it said the US“Does not support any unilateral change to the status quo in the Taiwan Strait”. To achieve that goal, the document states that the United States will“Build a military capable of deterring aggression anywhere in the first island chain,” but it also stresses that the U.S. military can not and should not undertake this task alone, allies must invest more in military spending and operations, and strengthen collective defence.
The U.S. Wall Street Journal noted that although the new version of the national security strategy generally continues the position of the Biden administration of“Opposing any unilateral change in the status quo in the Taiwan Strait,” the language is more moderate, replace it with“Does not support any unilateral change in the status quo in the Taiwan Strait”. Ryan Ferrien, a fellow at the conservative think tank the American Enterprise Institute, said it shows a softening of the U. S. stance toward Taiwan.
The DPP administration is complacent about the new document’s references to Taiwan’s economic and strategic position. Wellington Koo, Taiwan’s defence minister, said the island stood at the forefront of the first island chain and that it was more important to strengthen its ability and determination to defend itself. However, public opinion in the island is obviously not so optimistic. Some commentators believe that although the report has increased the length of the first island chain, the south china sea and“Taiwan,” many of the contents are not conducive to the DPP authorities.
According to a report on the 8th by the Taiwanese“United daily news,” former“National security secretary” Lee Shying-jow said that in the past, the“Opposition” in the US side’s usual“Opposition to unilaterally changing the status quo in the Taiwan Strait” had been changed to“No support.”, such a change in wording implies a shift from active us opposition to passive non-support, representing a weakening of the strength of the commitment. The report also makes it clear that the US military can not and should not take sole responsibility for its own defence, requiring allies to spend more on defence, which in Taiwan’s case would mean a huge increase in investment. Lee Shying-jow believes Washington is overstating the island’s security status, but also overpaying.
Jie Wenchi, a former foreign affairs official on the island, said that“Non-support” means that“The U.S. does not support anyone who unilaterally changes the status quo in the Taiwan Strait and has no intention of getting involved”, while“If Taiwan wants to pursue independence, the U.S. will not help”, “That’s a big change.”. Yang Yongming, former deputy secretary-general of Taiwan’s National Security Council, said on the 7th that the trend of the U.S. diplomatic focus shifting to the western hemisphere is obvious, and the national security strategy clearly shows several characteristics, including the United States first (economic interests expansion) , proxy war (the first island chain to save themselves) , Taiwan to increase money (increase military spending and arms purchase) . In the face of the report, he said, “Taiwan must be more cautious and must understand through the U.S. government’s ‘America First’ and ‘strategic retrenchment’”. The Taiwanese media also noted that the U.S. Senate recently passed the 2026 annual defense authorization bill, which requires the United States and Taiwan to strengthen cooperation on drones and maritime patrols, but the original Senate recommendation to invite Taiwan to participate in RIMPAC was removed.
The Singapore Daily Lianhe Zaobao cited an analysis by Ding shu-fan, an emeritus professor at the East Asia Institute of Taiwan Chengchi University, saying that the United States seems to be playing down the Taiwan issue, “Try not to make Taiwan an issue that gets entangled in Chinese mainland economic and trade negotiations.”. Ding Shufan said that the new strategy document in the wording there is still a lot of vague space, “Whether Bessent’s influence is unknown.”. The release of the document has been delayed by the insistence of US Treasury Secretary Vicente Besant on softening the language on the Chinese mainland, Politico magazine revealed yesterday.
Tsai yu-ming, associate professor and head of the Department of Accounting and taxation at Taiwan’s Shih Tzu University, wrote on the 8th that the national security strategy formally marks the end of excessive US concern about other countries’ internal systems, in its place is sovereignty and border security; the alliance becomes a contractual transaction that must first prove that you can afford it (a proportion of the defence budget) and that it has real value (such as the defence of the first island chain) , the United States would consider offering assistance.
From the latest National Security Strategy Report released by the White House to the latest talks by US Defense Secretary Hodges, it can be seen that Donald Trump regards economy and trade as the core of sino-us relations in his second term, the White House has so far failed to show solidarity with Japanese Prime Minister Takaichi over recent sino-japanese tensions over his“Taiwan incident” fallacies. The article said that it is not difficult to see that the current American government not only does not want to see the start of a war, but also attaches more importance to developing relations with the Chinese mainland, taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party authorities plan to spend nt $1.25 trillion on arms purchases, ban the Little Red Book and cut off communication channels with the other side of the strait. Do they really read the mind of the US government? (Zhang Ruo)