US & China Must Resume Talks About Taiwan

September 30, 2022 By Jozeph P

(Image Credit Google)

Reopening the lines of communication between the US and China on the Taiwan problem is necessary. But, according to an analyst, they must conduct such discussions in private. Paul Haenle, who holds the Maurice R. Greenberg director's chair at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, asserted that conversation needs to be resumed because the two superpowers are currently engaged in a "blame game" with one another. Furthermore, since US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan in early August, he continued, cross-strait tensions between China and Taiwan have grown "increasingly dangerous." The reason is that despite China's repeated warnings, Pelosi visited Taiwan in August. And this prompted Beijing to conduct military exercises in the waters and airspaces surrounding the island and fire ballistic missiles over Taipei. US & China

Additionally, in the same month, China declared that it had postponed talks with the United States on military and climate change.

Reopening the Taiwan talks

Taiwan is a self-governing democracy, but Beijing views the island as a renegade province and a portion of its territory. So, Haenle stated, "The Chinese have pulled down the dialogue in the aftermath of Pelosi's visit. I would rankly argue that you got to open it up." US & China

But he said US President Biden and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping should not discuss the Taiwan problem publicly. Haenle said this is "because when you put things out in public, you point to the other side, and criticize and blame, it only works to dig in that side even further. So this has to happen at the highest level between political leaders, and it has to happen in quiet, discreet channels."

Diverging opinions, expanding rift

Nicholas Burns, the US ambassador to Beijing, stated on Thursday at the Milken Institute Asia Summit in Singapore that China's actions in response to Pelosi's visit were an "overreaction." In addition, he thinks Beijing's hostile approach toward Taiwan continues to be a "major problem." US & China

He added, "We've had a median line in the Taiwan Strait for 68 years, [and] it's kept the peace. And they tried to erase that. So we're concerned that the party trying to change policy here now is Beijing. And we've warned them that we won't agree to that, [and] we don't accept it." Furthermore, Ma Zhaoxu, the Vice Foreign Minister of China, said to Chinese media in August that the US and its allies are the ones overreacting. "The US and its allies often come to the adjacent waters of China, flexing muscles and stirring up troubles. They conduct up to a hundred military exercises each year. So they, instead of someone else, are the ones that overreact and escalate the situation," stated Ma. US & China

However, according to Burns, the US remains committed to the "One China" policy and hasn't modified its stance on Taiwan. Therefore, although none of the three parties wants to see a military war break out, their opinions are constantly "diverging, not converging," according to Haenle.

What now

Haenle noted that a meeting between Biden and Xi at the forthcoming G-20 Summit in November would be an excellent time for the US and China to begin re-engaging. He remarked, "I think at a minimum, they need to have a conversation and get a sense of what steps each side is taking that's causing the other one the greatest concern. They need to look each other in the eye and have those conversations. They're difficult conversations."