STATE DEPARTMENT - A U.S. Republican party foreign policy aide arrived in Taiwan Tuesday morning for a week-long visit, which might include a meeting with Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, after she congratulated U.S. President-elect Donald Trump during a phone call last Friday.
The call, made by Tsai, was seen as a reflection of the Trump advisors’ hawkish view that Washington should pursue its relations with Beijing from a “position through strength.”
It was November of 1987 when Stephan Yates, then a Mormon missionary, first arrived in Taiwan. He used to have to ride buses for many hours between major cities, including Changhwa and Kaohsiung, where he spent almost two years.
Three decades later, much has changed. Modernized infrastructure and high-rise buildings are seen everywhere, along with high-speed rail that makes transportation much easier. Not to mention the matured Taiwan democracy where several peaceful shifts in power from one party to another have taken place.
“If mainland China wants to establish a good relationship with the people of Taiwan, they must respect the political reform and democratization of Taiwan with the example of President-elect Trump,” Yates, now the chairman of the Idaho Republican Party, told VOA Tuesday.
Keeping it low-key, Yates said he is not carrying any message to Tsai on behalf of Trump.
While Trump’s conversation with Tsai has brought solemn protest from China, the call reflects the views of Yates and many other hard-line Republican advisers, who urge Trump to openly take a tough stand against China.
Officials from China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs spoke with U.S. Ambassador to China Max Baucus to lodge an objection last Saturday.
In Washington, the State Department said the call did not undermine the current U.S. “One China" policy.
“By establishing this 'One China' policy, it’s allowed us to develop closer relations with Beijing and also to deepen our unofficial ties with Taipei,” said deputy spokesperson Mark Toner Monday. “So in our estimation, it’s been a productive policy to pursue given Beijing’s very serious concerns in this case.”
China claims democratically ruled Taiwan is part of its territory and has never renounced the use of military force to bring the island under Beijing's control. The United States broke diplomatic ties with Taiwan in 1979.
In the 1979 U.S.-China Joint Communique, the U.S. recognized Beijing as the sole legal government of China, acknowledging the Chinese position that there is but one China and Taiwan is part of China.
Taiwanese media reports indicated Tsai plans to transit through New York on her visit to Nicaragua in early January before Trump’s inauguration ceremony on January 20. News reports said Tsai might not meet with Trump in person but was planning to meet with Trump’s close aides.
The State Department said on Monday it would handle Tsai’s transit with proper protocol, with consideration of “the safety, comfort, and convenience for the travelers.”
Republican congressman Dana Rohrabacher from California said the call sent a diplomatic warning to China. Rohrabacher was reportedly a potential candidate to be the next Secretary of State.
“He [Trump] showed the dictators in Beijing that he is not a pushover,” Rohrabacher told the Fox News television network on Monday morning, adding “China has had an enormously aggressive foreign policy.”
Former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton, who also emerged as a contender to be the next top U.S. diplomat, said it was time to shake up U.S.-China relations, noting China’s “aggressive and belligerent claims” in the South China Sea.
Trump transition team economic advisor Peter Navarro and the Trump camp’s defense advisor, Alexander Gray, called Taiwan a “beacon of democracy in Asia,” and said it is “perhaps the most militarily vulnerable U.S. partner anywhere in the world.”
Both advocated for comprehensive U.S. arms sales to Taiwan to deter “China’s covetous gaze,” and fulfill the U.S. commitment under the Taiwan Relations Act.
Both advisors said the so-called Asia Pivot policy has been a failure under President Barack Obama and has invited Chinese aggression in the East and South China Seas, according to an article published by magazine in early November.
But some regional experts voiced deep concern.