China-US rivalry: cancelled trips to Taiwan, Europe will help ease pressure for a while, observers say
- Incoming Biden administration ‘does not seem to be very interested in the Taiwan issue, but it’s a card they will definitely play in the future’, US affairs expert says
- The two cancelled trips by US officials ‘can mitigate [the Sino-US confrontation] a little’, academic says
US ambassador to the United Nations Kelly Craft was set to arrive in Taiwan on Wednesday, but her trip was called off at the last minute.
Beijing regards Taiwan as part of its sovereign territory and vehemently opposes any and all official exchanges between Taipei and foreign nations.
The US Department of State announced the cancellation of Craft’s trip on Tuesday, along with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s planned visit to Europe, saying it had called off all of its travel to support the transition to a Joe Biden administration.
Pompeo was planning to meet his counterparts in Luxembourg and the European Union, but European diplomats snubbed him after the attack on the US Capitol last week, Reuters reported.
Analysts said the cancellation of the two trips would help to take some of the heat out of the US-China relationship, though only temporarily.
Craft would have been the first US ambassador to the UN to visit Taiwan since Washington switched its diplomatic allegiance to Beijing from Taipei in 1979. She was expected to meet the island’s President Tsai Ing-wen.
“The two cancelled trips by US officials can mitigate [the Sino-US confrontation] a little,” said Shi Yinhong, an international relations professor at Renmin University in Beijing.
But the Biden administration would maintain America’s hardline policy towards China in numerous fields, though perhaps less voraciously than it did under Donald Trump, he said.
Liu Weidong, a US affairs expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, agreed that the strategic rivalry between China and the US would continue under America’s new president.
“The Biden administration does not seem to be very interested in the Taiwan issue, but it’s a card they will definitely play in the future,” he said.
“It has always been a card of the US, and this will not change. But more likely, he [Biden] will choose to confront China on other issues, like human rights or security in the South China Sea.”
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Taiwan’s foreign ministry expressed regret at the cancellation of Kraft’s trip, but said it understood the decision was made to facilitate the US government transition, and that the ambassador was welcome to visit at a later date.
China’s foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian on Wednesday reiterated Beijing’s opposition to official exchanges between the US and Taiwan.
“China urges the US to … stop all official exchanges and military ties between the US and Taiwan, and not walk further down the wrong and dangerous road,” he told a regular press conference.
“China will continue to take the necessary measures to firmly defend its sovereignty and security interests,” he said.
Zhu Songling, a Taiwan affairs expert at Beijing Union University, said Taiwan was the biggest and most difficult issue facing China-US ties.
“US officials’ visits to the island in the past have shaken trust and political foundation between the two countries,” he said.
“I believe a similar visit will happen in the future, but Craft’s trip has been stopped and the tension will remain.”
Additional reporting by Jun Mai and Lawrence Chung
