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Trump's Taiwan Call

Ziggurat said:
Alternate take from Scott Adams, who got a lot about Trump right from the start:
http://blog.dilbert.com/post/153990140846/trump-and-the-taiwan-call
"But if you look at this situation through the filter of a Master Persuader, it makes perfect sense. Trump is “setting the table” for future negotiations with China. He just subtracted something from China’s brand that they value, and later he will negotiate with them to maybe give it back in some fashion. Probably in return for some trade concessions."
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The argument makes sense: If Trump wants to sell out Taiwan then this move will probably let him extract a higher price for it.

Such a move would not go over well with many of his supporters. It would be too obviously a retreat. It isn't the promised "winning".
The sell out would have to be hidden somehow.

Maybe one could jack up the price for those arms' deliveries. This would fit some of Trump's election rhetoric about charging more for US protection. At the same time, the implied weakening of Taiwanese defense would please China.
 
phiwum said:
I love the confidence you exude when it comes to international relations. You must be the best informed nurse in the ward!

That said, I more or less agree that China's economic prowess isn't anything to ignore. I'm just tweaking you here.
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I don't work on a ward. I own my own occupational infectious disease practice. :p

I don't claim to know where the finer points lie, but I do know Trump's and Bolton's hubris and ignorance are dangerous to us all.
 
Brainster said:
The "one-China" policy is one of those idiotic fictions that diplomats engage in but which have no real-world meaning. Yes both mainland aka Red China and Taiwan pretend to be in charge of both areas but really don't have control over the other. About the only thing it means is that they can't send separate delegations to the UN and the Olympics.
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That may sound fine from an American POV. But the Chinese are not Americans and to assume they will respond essentially the same way you believe everyone would ignores cultural differences.

Too bad Wolfman hasn't been around. I would love to hear his POV.

His last post was 31st December 2013. :(
 
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Skeptic Ginger said:
That may sound fine from an American POV. But the Chinese are not Americans and to assume they will respond essentially the same way you believe everyone would ignores cultural differences.
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No matter what the culture, you don't pick a fight with the guy who spends the most in your bar, and the USA is the biggest boozer in China's saloon.

Not to mention that for a fair amount of our hooch, we've been running a tab.
 
Nonpareil said:
This thread is getting sidetracked.

Is it a good idea, or a morally correct one, for the US to change its policy on Taiwan? Maybe. Maybe not. But that isn't the point.

The point is that Trump has no idea whether it is or it isn't. Hell, it's doubtful that he even realized that there was a situation there to begin with, or that his words would be taken as indicative of a major policy shift by foreign governments, or that he was acting against protocol to just pick up the phone and casually chat about such things with a foreign power.

And he probably doesn't even care.

That is horrifying.
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This is my assessment as well. If we are very very lucky, there may be a bit of a Forest Gump factor to the Trump administration where things actually work out for the better but it will be by accident and not design.
 
portlandatheist said:
This is my assessment as well. If we are very very lucky, there may be a bit of a Forest Gump factor to the Trump administration where things actually work out for the better but it will be by accident and not design.
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Hmmm.....Forest Trump?

Has definite T-Shirt possibilities.
 
TubbaBlubba said:
At some point, you have to accept that the KMT went from being a party in the power struggle in China and became the independent government of a nation-state in their own right, as a matter of fact in international law.

Whatever the precise point, we've been past it a long time now.
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Well if the Taiwan government declared formally that it was the independent nation of the Taiwanese people, that would be an act of decolonisation and supported by the UN and the separate nations of the world.
 
Noztradamus said:
Well if the Taiwan government declared formally that it was the independent nation of the Taiwanese people, that would be an act of decolonisation and supported by the UN and the separate nations of the world.
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Yup. But legally, they are a sovereign state regardless.
 
Noztradamus said:
Well if the Taiwan government declared formally that it was the independent nation of the Taiwanese people, that would be an act of decolonisation and supported by the UN and the separate nations of the world.
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Ah, so that's what Trump has in mind? Although Taiwan hasn't in fact claimed self determination. If the president of China starts making direct contact with the Californian separatists we've been hearing about, I suppose Trump will be equally relaxed? Though I do admit they don't claim to be the rightful government of the USA.

Personally I think Trump should stay out of this issue.
 
Craig B said:
Ah, so that's what Trump has in mind? Although Taiwan hasn't in fact claimed self determination. If the president of China starts making direct contact with the Californian separatists we've been hearing about, I suppose Trump will be equally relaxed? Though I do admit they don't claim to be the rightful government of the USA.

Personally I think Trump should stay out of this issue.
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No they haven't. It is however DPP policy, but they can't do it while the US has a President bowing to the One China. Maybe they are betting there's a chance they can do it with Trump, if they speak nicely to him.
 
Trump's tweeting again. He is now involving himself in what appear to be more internal Chinese issues.
Did China ask us if it was OK to devalue their currency" and "build a massive military complex?" he asked. "I don't think so!"​
Maybe they didn't ask the USA if they could do these things. How dreadful.
 
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