How Trump’s China Pivot Turned Taiwan Into a US Strategic Priority: Miles Yu

Yu says Washington’s post-2017 security shift reframed Taiwan’s defense as a matter of American self-interest.

Taiwanese honor guards hold Taiwanese flags during an open day event for the public at the Keelung port on March 17, 2025. I-haw Cheng /AFP via Getty Images

The United States’ strategic focus on countering the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) began during President Donald Trump’s first term and has since hardened into a bipartisan consensus—making Taiwan’s security a core U.S. national interest, according to Miles Yu, a senior fellow and director of the China Center at the Hudson Institute and a former adviser to then–Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

Yu said Washington formally reoriented its national defense strategy toward China under Trump, marking the most significant shift in U.S. grand strategy since World War II.