Experts' take on Taiwan question

Editor's note: The Taiwan question is at the very core of China’s national interests, and the one-China principle is the bedrock of China-US relations. By deliberately ignoring these facts and colluding with "Taiwan independence" forces, the US is jeopardizing peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits and hurting the feelings of people on both sides of the Straits. Three experts share their views on the issue with China Daily.

Commitment not a case of semantics

The transit of Tsai Ing-wen, leader of Taiwan island, through the United States en route to Guatemala and Belize, is nothing but a selfish and reckless political gamble. Such an arrangement between the US and the Taiwan authorities poses a severe challenge to the one-China principle inscribed in the three Sino-US communiques.

It is a given fact that Taiwan is a province of China. This fact is recognized by countries across the world including the US. China made the one-China principle a precondition for the establishment of diplomatic ties with the US. In response, Washington solemnly pledged in the Joint Communique on the Establishment of Diplomatic Relations between the People's Republic of China and the United States of America (Joint Communique) that: "The United States of America recognizes the Government of the People's Republic of China as the sole legal Government of China. Within this context, the people of the United States will maintain cultural, commercial, and other unofficial relations with the people of Taiwan."

Therefore, the US is obligated to honor the commitment of maintaining only unofficial relations with the people of Taiwan. Specifically, it should not accord any official from the Taiwan province special treatment that is otherwise inaccessible to the ordinary people of Taiwan. Unfortunately, the US has often been found to circumvent its obligations and commitments, either on the pretext of providing humanitarian convenience for senior officials of the island on their way to or from Central American countries or by citing the uncertain international status of Taiwan.

The inclusion of the US' unofficial relations with Taiwan in the communique, in fact, reinforced the fact that the US was obligated to respect the dignity of the government of the People's Republic of China which is the sole legal representative of China, just as it does to the governments of other countries with which it has diplomatic relations.

Some US officials refer to a paragraph in the joint communique, which reads: "The Government of the United States of America acknowledges the Chinese position that there is but one China and Taiwan is part of China." They claim that it is the Chinese position that there is but one China and Taiwan is part of China, and the US merely admits the existence of the Chinese position. The US side tends to offer its own understanding of the term "acknowledge", but in the eyes of China, "acknowledgement" is no different from "recognition".

It is clear that the US side is using semantics to confuse the international community. Any sane person will acknowledge that in the likelihood of the US later denying Taiwan's status as part of China, no joint communique would have been prepared, let alone signed. Also, the misinterpretation of the Sino-US agreement by some US politicians would not only threaten China's sovereign interests but also harm the overall interests of the American people.

As a matter of fact, some US politicians' position in this regard does not hold. The joint communique has two versions, one in English and the other in Chinese. Both versions are authentic and legally binding. Under the customary international law on treaty interpretation, when one version of a single treaty allows two interpretations, the other version of the treaty must be referred to for ascertaining the true meaning of the treaty.

In the Chinese version of the above paragraph from the joint communique, the Chinese word chengren must be undisputedly interpreted as "recognition" in English. Therefore, the US commitment in this regard is clear: The government of the US recognizes the Chinese position that there is but one China and Taiwan is part of China.

And since the US recognizes the Chinese position, allowing Tsai Ing-wen to transit through the US is nothing but a violation of the joint communique and the one-China principle which the US has pledged to follow. The US government should stop such unlawful and provocative moves.

It should also be clear to the US that China, according to international law, is entitled to take countermeasures against such a violation. And the Chinese government is empowered by China's laws to take necessary measures, including imposing sanctions on the people responsible for such a violation.

Kong Qingjiang is dean of the School of International Law, China University of Political Science and Law.

Washington a peace-breaker across the Straits

At a time when the problems facing the world are becoming acuter, Sino-US relations are also becoming increasingly tense, because the United States has been repeatedly violating the one-China principle. The US' moves have poisoned cross-Straits relations, and they include allowing Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen to transit through the US en route to Guatemala and Belize in Central America and scheduling a meeting between her and House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy.

By allowing Tsai to transit through the US, not once but twice, Washington is actually backing "Taiwan pro-independence" forces on the island. Worse, the US has tried to play down Beijing's serious concerns as overreaction and twisted them to claim Beijing is preparing to forcibly reunify Taiwan with the Chinese mainland.

First, it is clear the US is a troublemaker and has been interfering in the Taiwan question, which is China's internal affair. The fact is that Taiwan is an integral part of China and reunification has been the common goal of both sides of the Taiwan Straits since the War of Liberation (1946-49).

Although the US is well aware of this historical background, it has been supporting the pro-independence forces on the island and using Taiwan as a strategic chip to poison cross-Straits relations. The Taiwan question is central to the Chinese nation. The bond between the two sides of the Straits is so strong that a Taiwan leader passing through another country becomes an extremely sensitive political and diplomatic issue.

Tsai's stopovers in the US are an excuse that Washington is using to cover up the essence of Tsai's political show — to gain support for pro-independence forces. Understating the provocative action as "the latest in a series of routine 'transits'" is a smokescreen Washington is using to heighten tensions across the Straits, which has also worsened Sino-US ties.

Second, the US is a peace-breaker in the Taiwan question. In recent years, the pro-independence forces on the island have become more vocal thanks to US support.

The US has gone back on its promise to adhere to the one-China principle that there is but one China and Taiwan is an integral part of China.

As for the Joe Biden administration, it has repeatedly stressed that it does not support "Taiwan independence". But its actions belie its words, as the US Congress has passed several Taiwan-related acts, increased US-Taiwan exchanges, allowed US officials to interact directly with Taiwan officials.

More important, the US has been selling increasing amounts of advanced weapons to Taiwan, and has even talked about helping Taiwan defend itself against the mainland. Tsai seeks to split the country by getting US support, which is exactly what her "stopovers" are aimed at achieving. And by arranging her transits through the US, Washington is trying to hollow out the one-China principle.

Third, the US is a thief crying "catch the thief". Accusing Beijing of overreacting to the transits of high-level Taiwan officials through the US, the Biden administration has said "Tsai's stopovers are in keeping with past precedent" and asked Beijing not to use them as a pretext to step up activities across the Straits.

A two- or three-day stay in Los Angeles is far beyond a "transit", not to mention that Tsai is also scheduled to meet with House Speaker McCarthy. People are questioning why the US arranged the "transits" but the administration insists they are "nothing new" and instead claiming that Beijing poses a risk to the region.

Maintaining its global hegemony is the only reason the US is doing so. The US should be held responsible for any break in peace across the Straits. From the strategic point of view, the US uses the "Taiwan card" to raise tensions across the Straits, in order to force the mainland to deplete its resources in restoring normalcy.

And once that happens, Washington can bargain with Beijing using the "Taiwan card" again.

The US should stop playing the "Taiwan card". It has already breached many of its commitments using innumerable excuses. No matter how desperately the US tries, it cannot cover up its real motives. It has been damaging the foundation of Sino-US relations by backing "Taiwan independence". And it should be held accountable for all the consequences.

The US always accuses other countries of breaking the rules. But the US itself does not follow any international rules or laws. It's high time the US stopped interfering in the Taiwan question and returned to the right track of the one-China principle.

Liu Qiang is director of the academic council and a senior research fellow at the Shanghai Center for RimPac Strategic and International Studies.

US conjuring up suicidal dreams dangerous for Tsai

Not content enough with manipulating and pushing Ukraine into a conflict with Russia, the Joe Biden administration is now encouraging Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen to provoke the Chinese mainland, which could lead to ruinous and incalculable consequences for the island. And the US should know the Taiwan question is totally different from the Ukraine crisis.

Tsai has seen her popularity shrink significantly of late, and like so many other desperate and irresponsible politicians before her, she is now currying favor with the United States in an effort to regain her popularity and credibility at home.

Tsai's decision to transit through the US during her visit to Guatemala and Belize in Central America was obviously made with the encouragement of the Biden administration and the bipartisan crowd of armchair warrior heroes among the China hawks in the Congress. Pestered by all those irresponsible politicians to act "fake-tough" against China, the Biden administration has tried to play down China's grave concerns over the violation of the one-China principle by the US.

It is therefore time to reiterate that the US bipartisan policy for about half a century has been to recognize China's sovereignty over Taiwan. Any moves that encourage adventurous, demagogic politicians in Taiwan to attempt to violate the 1992 Consensus and proclaim "Taiwan independence" will never be accepted by Beijing.

Japan seized the island of Taiwan in 1895 and used it for the next half a century to plot and subvert political stability and peace on the mainland, including the genocidal military invasion that claimed more than 35 million lives. For a few decades after the end of World War II, successive US administrations cynically used Taiwan as "Airstrip One of the East" and a massive naval strategic base with which to threaten the mainland.

Tsai ought to know better than to take such grave gamblers' risks. After all, she has led the ruling Democratic Progressive Party for years and has been the island's leader since 2016. However, Tsai's formative years and professional and intellectual influences reveal her to be a head-in-the-clouds legal theorist and Western moralizer who would greatly benefit from a crash course in Confucian ethics and political realism.

Tsai holds a master's degree and doctorate in Western law, a discipline which is remarkably effective in protecting its most passionate devotees from having to face the pressures of political and economic reality, not to mention security requirements in the practical and real world. She earned her master's degree from Cornell University Law School in the US and her PhD from the London School of Economics — ironically, my alma mater too — in the United Kingdom. But she never studied security policies, strategy, modern history and least of all diplomacy.

Any child should be able to see that China's national strength and global influence have been increasing, while the US has irresponsibly over-extended its global commitments to include interfering in other countries' internal affairs and is heavily burdened with serious social and economic problems at home. What the US needs, therefore, is to stop, at least for a decade, trying to moralize and impose its own fantasies and so-called solutions on the rest of the world and instead attend to its own domestic issues without blaming other countries for them.

For Tsai to persuade a militarily over-extended, cash-strapped and domestically-divided US to make the unprecedented commitment to support a Taiwan she is trying to propel toward "independence" is not only dangerous but also irresponsible, for it could harm people both in the US and on the island. It's another matter that a rising, confident and powerful mainland will never tolerate such a coup de main.

The American people rightly see no reason to fight a perilous, expensive war against a thermonuclear power halfway around the world over an issue in which no primary US national interest is even remotely at stake.

Washington should stop playing with fire by interfering in China's domestic affair, which is exactly what the Taiwan question is, in order to divert the American public's attention from the real problems faced by the US. Washington's moves to worsen the Ukraine crisis has proven to be catastrophic for the Ukrainian people, and has put the US at direct loggerheads with Russia. The last thing any responsible US leader ought to risk is encouraging Tsai to go charging down the same appalling road to self-destruction.

Martin Sieff is a senior fellow at the American University in Moscow.