Trump Signs Act Backing Taiwan, China Threatens ‘Strike Back’

China slams 'crude interference' in internal affairs

Chinese officials are threatening a “strike back” Friday after President Trump signed the TAIPEI Act, which ensures stronger US support for Taiwan, and calls for US action against anyone who undermines Taiwanese prosperity.

Resolutions calling for more US support for Taiwan are common, and China’s response, criticizing it as “crude interference” in their internal affairs, is likewise common. Taiwan is not, after all, an independent country in practice, but a competing Chinese government.

These resolutions and responses are obligatory, but largely empty, as the US and China for the most part don’t actually do anything related to the issue. The nations’ respective coronavirus problems make it even less likely they’ll get confrontational right now.

In the long run, China wants Taiwan to return to being a province of China, and would clearly prefer to do this without damaging it in an invasion. The US is committing to help Taiwan maintain the status quo, though Taiwanese officially know any effort to try to assert independence would lead to a confrontation with China which they wouldn’t win.



Author: Jason Ditz

Jason Ditz is Senior Editor for Antiwar.com. He has 20 years of experience in foreign policy research and his work has appeared in The American Conservative, Responsible Statecraft, Forbes, Toronto Star, Minneapolis Star-Tribune, Providence Journal, Washington Times, and the Detroit Free Press.