China bashing means it’s US election year
As lawmakers introduce a bill pressuring allies of Taiwan to stand by it, Beijing must rely on a diplomatic response to isolate the island
If you are an American politician, a bit of China bashing can never go wrong, especially when it’s a national election year.
So, just two months before the polls for both the Senate and the House of Representatives, four senators have introduced a bill to pressure a handful of the remaining allies of Taiwan to back away from switching sides to China.
It was put together by Republican senators Cory Gardner and Marco Rubio and Democrats Ed Markey and Bob Menendez. You can almost call it a rare display of bipartisanship.
The bill was introduced after El Salvador became the third country this year – and the fifth since Tsai Ing-wen of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) took power in 2016 – to switch diplomatic recognition to Beijing. It threatens to downgrade relations and withdraw foreign aid to Taiwan’s few remaining allies should they switch sides.
It might look like plain hypocrisy, but it’s just typical cynicism in an election year. It’s not clear whether the Trump White House supports the bill, which is not likely to pass anyway, given its sheer diplomatic inconsistencies.