Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on Tuesday met with a US bipartisan congressional delegation in Taipei led by Rep. Ro Khanna (R-CA) and told the American lawmakers that Taiwan is boosting military exchanges with the US.
“Taiwan and the United States continue to bolster military exchanges, and going forward Taiwan will cooperate even more actively with the United States and other democratic partners to confront such global challenges as authoritarian expansionism and climate change,” Tsai told the delegation.
Since Washington severed diplomatic relations with Taipei in 1979 to open up with Beijing, the US maintained some quiet military cooperation with Taiwan and continued to sell arms to the island. But in recent years, that cooperation has expanded and become more public.
Tsai’s comments came after a report from Nikkei Asia revealed that the US has expanded its training of Taiwan’s military with US National Guard troops, a program that started before the spring of 2022. The 2023 National Defense Authorization Act that President Biden signed into law in December called for more military cooperation with Taiwan and included unprecedented military aid. China responded to the NDAA by launching major military exercises around Taiwan.
While meeting with Tsai, Khanna said the purpose of the visit was to strengthen economic and military ties with Taiwan. ” We come here to strengthen the economic relationship, representing Silicon Valley … and also, of course, the partnership on military and defense,” he said.
Khanna, a member of a new House panel on China, previously said he would focus on learning about Taiwan’s semiconductor industry and insisted the trip wasn’t a provocation. But congressional delegations to Taiwan anger China as they view US government officials visiting the island as a challenge to the one-China policy. Other members of the delegation include Reps. Tony Gonzales (R-TX), Jake Auchincloss (D-MA), and Jonathan Jackson (D-IL).
Taiwan’s opposition ran on a platform of peace and won the 2022 elections by a landslide.
https://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2023/01/02/2003791839
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2022_Taiwanese_local_elections
The lame duck Tsai wants to do as much damage as possible. Clearly, the people of Taiwan don’t want to become the next Ukraine and let’s honor their wishes for peace.
Ma best be forewarned of the fate of Yanukovich, … and be ready.
Hopefully they throw out the DPP in 2024, and defeat Washington’s puppet regime that’s narrowly in control at the present. That would be the best way to avoid a catastrophe for the people of Taiwan. I believe that was the main purpose of China’s military exercises after Pelosi’s provocative visit. To focus the minds of the voters in Taiwan. I’m not condoning it, but I’m not going to condone Washington’s meddling in the internal affairs of Taiwan, which puts Taiwan at risk of being harmed or even destroyed. Another Washington violation of international law.
“…Rep. Ro Khanna (R-CA)…” Not fond of standard-issue republicans but I think this particular warmonger is a democ-rat. In fact, he boasts on his own website to be “a leading progressive voice.” …”Ugh!” “Blech!” …Sorry. Where’s my barf bag?
https://khanna.house.gov/about/about-rep-khanna
He’s actually a democrat. He was very against the war in Yemen and introduced legislation that would have cut off the funding. He also voted no on the NDAA because of the $23 billion that was added to the defense budget. I don’t know what the f*ck happened to him. He had his faults but they all do.
Yes, he is a Democrat and like every other Dem has voted for massive funding for Biden’s cruel proxy war on Russia with Ukrainians as cannon fodder.
Now he emerges as anti-China.
Yemen, a humanitarian disaster, is a pet cause of some progressive Dems (a contradiction in terms) and that is a good thing.
But when it comes to conflict between the major nuclear powers, China and Russia, a threat to our very existence, Khanna is not on the side of humanity, nor are the other Dems.
But thankfully we have a peace party, the republicans. Right?
Sounds like his family members were threatened.
Taiwan and the United States can have their special relationship but only up to a point where China lowers the boom on Taiwan. Just like Russia is not going to allow NATO to occupy the naval base in Sevastopol, China is not going to allow Taiwan to become a proxy for the United States.
China doesn’t have to invade Taiwan in order to devastate it. About half of Taiwan’s exports go to mainland China, and about a third of Taiwan’s imports come from mainland China. If China cut off trade with Taiwan then Taiwan’s economy would be severely damaged. China’s air defense and anti-shipping missiles could enforce a total blockade on Taiwan, with no planes or ships entering or leaving Taiwan without China’s permission.
Let’s hope that it doesn’t come to that.
Progressive Democrat have been under the mistaken understanding that Ro Khanna had not, like the rest of his party, gone full neo-con. Why, for goodness sake? China is not interested in “seizing” Taiwan. It is only interested in the status quo, which means full autonomy Taiwan, but not independence. The reason is that an independent Taiwan risks becoming an “off-shore unsinkable aircraft carrier” dependent on hostile foreign forces. That represents an existential threat to China. Ro Khanna should realize it,
The status quo is an independent Taiwan that everyone pretends isn’t independent.
Given that China’s semiconductors are made in Taiwan they are not going to march in and take over by breaking stuff.
They’ll just buy the political/business class like they have done in the US.
This deal is just more corporate elite money transfer from our and the Taiwan citizen’s pockets of taxes collected today and borrowed Chinese money to be paid by future tax collection. After all what is military equipment in warehouses but just the means to make everyone in DC (and the political class in Taiwan) rich by Eisenhower’s corporate military complex? Sure some will be burned off shooting at targets and a lot will actually go to off the books operations in desperate 3rd world countries in proxy stuff but most of it will just sit.
Wen is following the same strategy that Zelensky followed.
She is following the carrot at the end of the stick and believeing that the US will provide military aid to Taiwan when China finally snaps. She still does not realize she is being used to get the war started and then, when it finally starts she will be fighting another proxy war.