Taiwan’s top legislative leader, You Si-kun, is in Washington this week for meetings with top China critics in Congress, including former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, as the Biden administration prepares a $500 million fast-tracked arms package for the island in the face of growing aggression from China.
The $500 million is viewed as a down payment the U.S. plans to provide by the end of the year on a much larger promised $4.5 billion package the Biden administration has pledged to deliver over the next four years. Most of that money has been delayed, partly because of existing U.S. commitments to support Ukraine.
Through visits with key lawmakers, You Si-kun hopes to deepen economic and security ties with U.S. officials as worries grow about a potential invasion by China, which considers the thriving democracy part of its territory but has downplayed its territorial claims until President Xi Jinping renewed them in recent years.
The visit comes at a delicate time for the Biden administration. Last week, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met with his Chinese counterpart in Vienna for two days in what the White House deemed were “substantive and constructive” talks, a hopeful sign of easing tensions between Washington and Beijing.
China has responded to past visits between Washington and Taiwanese officials, including Pelosi’s visit to Taipei in August, by stepping up military drills around the island and unleashing a slew of retaliatory economic restrictions on Taiwan. Beijing also warned House Speaker Kevin McCarthy not to visit Taiwan after reports surfaced that he planned a trip there later this year. McCarthy met with Taiwan’s outgoing president Tsai Ing-wen in California in April but is not expected to have a face-to-face meeting with You this week.
You, a founding member of Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party in the 1980s, has served as president of its legislative body since 2020 and previously served as the island’s premier from 2002 to 2005 under President Chen Shui-bian.
You spoke with RealClearPolitics (RCP) on Tuesday.
Taiwan is very important because it’s the only democracy in Chinese-speaking communities. If Taiwan’s democracy is destroyed, then China can tell the world that human rights [and] democracy are not suitable for Asian countries.
If we would like to see international-ordered structures created by Europe and the United States continue and not be destroyed by China, we need to face or overcome the challenges posed by China.
Putting that aside, when we look at the global economy, every day, 50 percent of global trade travels through the Taiwan Strait. If there is any war, that would profoundly impact the global economic supply chain, so protecting Taiwan is in the global economic interest.
The U.S. has made tremendous contributions to protecting global liberty, human rights, and freedom. In the year 2000, the whole world thought that when China adopted a market economy … that would lead to democratization. Regrettably, this expectation was wrong and failed our expectations. This misjudgment led to a bigger and more powerful China, which is an authoritarian country, and that’s why it has threatened global peace and stability.
The U.S. has been very active in collaborating with Asian countries such as the Republic of Korea, Japan, the Philippines, and Taiwan to form a kind of crescent alliance of defense in the hope of deterring the CCP, so it will not take any reckless actions against Taiwan.
When we think of the peace and stability of the Indo-Pacific region, I suggest that the U.S. needs to be firm and determined so that the CCP regime will not take reckless action.
It’s probably the result of different times and different situations. As far as I know, the Trump administration’s withdrawal from this council was because of CCP [efforts] to control the majority of votes in the council.
But we respect any U.S. decision to participate in this council or not.
Because my visit this time is [because of an] invitation by the Hudson Institute to give a keynote speech. And in addition, I want to take this opportunity to invite members of the Congress to visit Taiwan in September for the International Religious Freedom Summit and also for a parliamentary intelligence and security summit to be held in January next year. It’s not one of my major purposes to meet certain people. So, I think it’s never too late to meet anyone I would like to meet in the future if there is any opportunity.
Russian aggression in Ukraine reminds the global democratic community that authoritarian regimes tend to invade other countries any time and out of [sync with] our expectations. The best strategy is to be prepared so that we can preserve peace. Because of the Russian-Ukraine war, that helped the United States and European countries do some soul-searching and draw their attention to the situation across the Taiwan Strait. And because of the Russian-Ukraine war, the people of Taiwan have raised their alert against the CCP regime.
The U.S. is the leader of global freedom, democracy, and the rule of law. So, the U.S. needs to be a role model to act justly and to love mercy so the U.S. can continue to promote these universal values worldwide. When I read about some U.S. politicians [lobbying for Chinese entities], I hope they will have a further understanding about the true nature of the CCP authoritarian regime and to be cautious when dealing with the CCP regime.
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