Is it too risky for Trump and Taiwanese President Tsai to meet?
The US president-elect leaves open the possibility of meeting Tsai Ing-wen after he is sworn in
Incoming US President Donald Trump has left open the possibility of meeting with Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen after he takes office, but analysts from across the straits believe Tsai is unlikely to take the risk.
At a New Year’s Eve celebration at his Mar-a-lago estate on Saturday, Trump said: “It would be a little bit inappropriate, from a protocol standpoint, but we’ll see,” when pressed on whether he would meet Tsai in the future.
Analysts believe Tsai is unlikely to take the risk of meeting Trump in public – though this would not prevent her delegation from having contacts with Trump’s team.
The talk of Tsai’s US stopovers has already rattled Sino-US relations, and Beijing might take tough measures, including military threats, over a face-to-face meeting between her and Trump.
“The instance of [former Taiwanese president] Lee Teng-hui’s 1995 US visit shows how such contacts would mean big disaster and trouble for Taiwan,” Chen Xiancai, deputy director of Xiamen University’s Taiwan research institute, said.