US must not seek to ‘contain’ rising China but learn to coexist, former policy adviser says

Name: US Senator calls Taiwan an ‘independent nation’ in latest congressional visit to self-ruled island
Uploaded: 2022-08-27T12:00:23.000Z
Duration: 3 min 28 s
Description: US Senator calls Taiwan an ‘independent nation’ in latest congressional visit to self-ruled island

US stance on Taiwan feeding Beijing’s belief that it seeks to use the island to ‘contain China’, ex-State Department staff Jessica Chen Weiss writes

A foreign policy consumed by China risks undermining ‘the sustainability of American leadership in the world’, the Cornell professor warns

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Members of staff adjust the national flags ahead of US-China trade talks in Beijing. Photo: AP

Kawala Xie

Published: 8:00pm, 27 Aug 2022

A Cornell University professor and former US policy adviser has a piece of advice the White House may need to seriously think about: do not try to “contain” a rising China, but to “coexist”, or risk leadership of the world.

“Competition with China has begun to consume US foreign policy,” former US State Department staff and China expert Jessica Chen Weiss wrote in Foreign Affairs magazine, warning that the two superpowers could face a crisis over Taiwan.

“Washington should avoid characterising Taiwan as a vital asset for US interests,” Weiss said. “Such statements feed Beijing’s belief that the United States seeks to ‘use Taiwan to contain China’.”

“The United States must bolster deterrence [on Taiwan] while also clarifying that its ‘one-China’ policy has not changed,” she advised.

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US Senator calls Taiwan an ‘independent nation’ in latest congressional visit to self-ruled island

Recapping the events of the past few decades, Weiss explained how Washington became alarmed by Beijing’s fast-growing clout and the likely threat it posed, after a honeymoon period in the 1980s and 1990s.