US only after its own interests in Taiwan

By Michael Riches

Like a bull in a china shop, the second in line to the US presidency barreled through the nation, departing as suddenly as she arrived, expecting Taiwan to deal with the aftermath.

The US has called China’s response to the visit “provocative” and “irresponsible.” One could have said the same about the Aug. 2 drop-in by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi. China’s simulated blockade and missile firings over Taipei, rather than being “provocative,” would be better described as “entirely predictable.”

Pelosi’s overnight layover had no stated purpose. It was left for Taiwanese to read between the lines and view the visit as symbolic, a way of letting China know “who’s boss.” It was an extravagant game of “I dare you to knock this chip off my shoulder,” except Pelosi put the chip on Taiwan’s shoulder and fled.

At a news conference with President Tsai Ing-wen at the Legislative Yuan on Aug. 3, Samson Ellis of Bloomberg News told Pelosi that Taiwan has paid a cost for her visit, and “is likely to continue to do so over the coming days and weeks.”

Ellis asked: “What concrete, tangible benefits can you promise Taiwan to offset the cost of your trip?”

Pelosi could name none in her rambling answer. The most she could muster at the beginning of her response was that the US “has just passed the chips and science act,” something not contingent on her visit, implying that the “good economic exchanges” she continually referred to in the remainder of her reply could be undone if Taiwan becomes difficult in its relationship with the superpower.

Anyone who views the US as Taiwan’s friend should remember that partnership with a world power is always conditional. Taiwan supplies its protector with much-needed semiconductor chips and buys its weapons in return. That is the gist of Taiwan’s meaning to the US.

More than that, keeping Taiwan out of the hands of China is essential to US interests in the Indo-Pacific region. If it were not, Taiwan’s “freedom and democracy” would be of no significance. Witness Iran in 1953, Brazil in 1964, Indonesia in 1965, Chile in 1970, Argentina in 1976, Ukraine in 2014 — each having a democratically elected government overthrown with US involvement simply because they stopped playing ball with the West.

Even Western allies are not immune from US meddling. The Australian Financial Review uncovered covert CIA participation in successful efforts in 1975 to remove Australian Prime Minister Gough Whitlam from power. Former CIA contractor Christopher Boyce later supported the claim, saying that Whitlam’s plans to close US military bases threatened US interests in the region.

The pieces being played on this board have nothing to do with Washington's concern for Taiwan’s freedom, democracy or human rights, or Beijing's fond regard for Taiwan’s historical significance to the motherland. The game is all about the US and China preventing each other from establishing military outposts in Taiwan.

Hawaii provides a comparative example. The US annexed the country in 1898 for the islands’ strategic importance in the Spanish-American War. US business stakes in Hawaii aided efforts to oust the royal family, who by all accounts were providing well for their people, but were also curbing foreign capitalist influence on the nation’s values.

The illegal US takeover was all about money and military might, not freedom or democracy.

Annexation of Hawaii has given the US — and the West by extension — invaluable influence and jurisdiction throughout the Pacific. “Occupation” of Taiwan would extend that domination right up to China’s doorstep.

I do not support China’s claim to Taiwan, but it takes a certain degree of blindness to think that Beijing would not do its utmost to prevent an enemy superpower from establishing bases 180km away across the strait — something that would surely follow from Taiwanese independence.

Being a vassal state of the US would certainly be a more favorable situation for Taiwan than being absorbed by China. However, Taiwanese should not be naive about what the US wants.

Washington is beating the drums of war in the strait as loudly as Beijing, and Taiwan is simply a pawn. Pelosi, as a rook on this chessboard, engaged in a selfish ploy to burnish her legacy by demonstrating that she alone could goad China into encircling Taiwan and setting off thousands of tonnes of gunpowder.

Washington might try to pass off the fireworks as a celebration of freedom and democracy, but those watching the missiles fly over their homeland should at least be skeptical of US intentions.