Political conversations are more often called sneaky than artful. But Trump’s publicly acknowledged phone call with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen is a little bit of both, with some clever strategy to boot.
Few would call President-elect Donald Trump coy, nor does he side-step when it comes to foreign diplomacy. Unlike the administration preparing to leave.
The splintered Obama foreign policy, is on its way out America’s back door.
With Trump, there are no more meaningless lines in the sand, nor are there fictitious proclamations and weak threats. It’s not like a phone call will cause World War III.
Donald Trump | Photo Credit Slate
The World Watches Trump’s Call
Trump took the call with the world watching, sending a signal that our allies could once again rely on America. Foreign policy no longer trembles beneath a cloud weakness.
Our history with Taiwan is shrouded in chaos. While president, Ronald Reagan confirmed support for Taiwan, which displeased The People’s Republic of China, also known as Communist China.
He placed a statement in the National Security Council file that read, “The U.S. willingness to reduce its arms sales to Taiwan is conditioned absolutely upon the continued commitment of China to the peaceful solution of Taiwan—PRC differences. It should be clearly understood that the linkage between these two matters is a permanent imperative of the U.S. foreign policy.”
Unfortunately, Reagan’s mandate became muddled in subsequent administrations.
Donald Trump | Photo Credit Business Insider
True Foreign Policy
By simply accepting Taiwan’s call, Trump sent a clear message that America will no longer abandon Taiwan. In essence, he said America will tolerate no further aggression toward this American ally.
During his administration, Reagan created blocks to prevent communist aggression, allowing the Taiwanese government to democratize. However, in recent years, many of those protections were not honored by America’s leaders.
Under an ineffective Democratic America, Communist China pushed U.S. resolve to a back burner–until Trump.
China needed to know where America stood, and now they know we are rooted with our historic allies. Finally, we have a president who will honor his predecessor’s leadership.
Why do you think America allowed China to bully her in recent years?
