Taiwan’s call for realistic defences against China may find a sympathetic ear in the Trump White House

Michal Thim says even though Taiwan was not the focus of the latest talks with Beijing, the Trump team is aware that ties with Taipei and defence support are key to peace in the Western Pacific

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Taiwan’s US-made F-16 fighter jets fly in formation while releasing flares during the island’s annual Han Kuang military exercises, in the southeast of Taipei in May 2007. Photo: Reuters

Published: 1:00pm, 21 Mar 2017Updated: 8:46pm, 21 Mar 2017

US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson has just concluded his first visit to China, the first high-level visit by a member of the new American administration.

Should appearances be trusted, meetings with Foreign Minister Wang Yi (王毅) and President Xi Jinping (習近平) proceeded with greater calm than the preceding rhetoric had suggested. Both sides discussed the forthcoming summit between Xi and US President Donald Trump, along with a number of thorny issues including the status of Taiwan, despite North Korea occupying most of the agenda.

Nevertheless, Tillerson’s stop in China was just a messenger job. The real deal will be the Trump-Xi summit tentatively planned to take place at Trump’s Florida retreat of Mar-a-Lago next month.

Tillerson meets Xi Jinping, says Trump looking forward ‘to enhancing understanding’

While Taiwan was not the central focus of Tillerson’s visit, it is likely that Washington’s relations with Taipei will feature prominently in US-China relations in the coming months.

One aspect of it is Beijing’s desire to see Trump affirming a commitment to the one-China principle. However, the Trump administration also needs to address practical steps pertinent to US-Taiwan policy.

To this effect, it is reportedly planning a new Taiwan arms sale that would exceed the value of the package shelved in the last days of the Barack Obama administration. The announcement will not take place until after the Trump-Xi summit, giving both heads of state a chance to discuss the issue behind closed doors first.

Is Taiwan the trump card in Sino-US relations?

Speculation on the arms sales emerged in parallel with the release of the third iteration of the Quadrennial Defence Review by Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defence, on March 16. This report is due every four years, 10 months after the inauguration of a newly elected president: Tsai Ing-wen took office on May 20 last year.

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