Taiwan’s democracy shows better path for Chinese people, says former House speaker Paul Ryan

Former US House speaker Paul Ryan praised Taiwan’s embrace of democracy at a meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen during an event to mark the 40th anniversary of the Taiwan Relations Act.

The act commits Washington to maintaining substantive ties with the self-ruled island and to supply it with defensive weapons after it switched formal diplomatic recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979.

The legislation was passed in response to demands by pro-Taipei congressman for the US to keep the island as an informal ally that would support US interests in the region.

“The US-Taiwan partnership is a rare issue on which there is a consensus from both sides of the aisle, and the Taiwan Relations Act was one of those transcendent moments when Congress did exactly what it was designed to do, and as a result, strong bipartisan support for Taiwan has endured for four decades thereafter,” said Ryan.

Ryan, who led a group to Taiwan on Monday to represent the US at the anniversary celebration in the de facto American embassy, praised Tsai’s efforts to uphold democracy and freedom, saying the island’s embrace of democracy “shows a better path for all the Chinese people” and for “all people wherever they call home”.

The Republican steered clear of Taiwan’s domestic politics, including the upcoming presidential election, and its increasingly tense relationship with mainland China, in his comments.

Ryan cited a speech by Vice-President Mike Pence last October when he stressed that “America will always believe that Taiwan’s embrace of democracy shows a better path for all the Chinese people,” and for the matter, for all people wherever they call home.

“He [Pence] said the US wants the Indo-Pacific region and for the world as a whole to be free, open, prosperous and innovative … to partner with in solving global problems, which is what Taiwan is doing,” Ryan said.

“Taiwan’s leadership reflects an understanding of shared values that instils unique importance to the US-Taiwan relationship – which, of course, stems from our shared values, and our common embrace of democracy, free markets, rule of law, and human rights,” the former speaker said, stressing that the US commitment to Taiwan’s security remains rock-solid.

Tsai, from the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party, described the act as a cornerstone of US-Taiwan relations, especially in the face of persistent threats from Beijing, which considers the island a wayward province subject to eventual unification, by force if necessary.

She made use of Monday’s ceremony at the new office complex of the American Institute in Taiwan – the US de facto embassy – to highlight the growing number of military threats from Beijing against the island, which she said were undermining stability in the Taiwan Strait and in the region.

On Monday, Taiwanese warplanes and military vessels shadowed a group of mainland fighter jets, which flew by the island from the south coast of China on their way to military drills in the Western Pacific, the latest such incident involving PLA forces.

Ryan served as the 54th House speaker from October 2015 until January this year, when he stepped down from Congress.

Other guests at the event included AIT Chairman James Moriarty, David Meale, deputy assistant secretary under the State Department’s Bureau of Economic and Business Affairs.

Earlier, Moriarty told a seminar that the US would respect the decision of the Taiwanese people in the 2020 presidential poll and would work with the leader selected by the electorate.

“I hope I’m being clear. We do not plan to get involved in the Taiwan election. That is not the goal of the US,” he said, in response to a question raised by Taiwanese tycoon Terry Guo at the event.