Trump Should Follow Reagan's Lead on Taiwan Policy

Russell Hsiao

Politics, Asia

Trump and Xi should use the Mar-a-Lago summit to hash out an agreement on Taiwan.

After President Donald Trump’s “lengthy” phone call with Chinese president Xi Jinping in February, murmurs in Washington and Taipei began to surface that Beijing may once again be pushing for a fourth communiqué with the United States. While the likelihood of a fourth communiqué may seem remote or “unlikely”—at least for the time being—festering doubts over U.S. commitment to its allies and partners can have a deleterious effect on regional security. Greater uncertainty may be pre-empted if the Trump administration takes the bold step of issuing assurances for Taiwan. Such assurances are necessary in the strained U.S. policy ecosystem and political environment, which former director of the American Institute in Taiwan Bill Stanton has described in a recent speech as fraught with “contradictions” and a “lack of coherence.”

In a roller coaster like transition process, perceptions of U.S. policy towards Taiwan and China quickly rose to exhilaration and dropped to trepidation as Trump broke protocol, questioned policy dogmas and affirmed the U.S. policy “status quo.” Quickly following on the heels of the Trump-Xi call, People’s Republic of China (PRC) state councilor Yang Jiechi was dispatched to Washington. Not coincidentally, Yang met with senior U.S. officials on February 28, which marked the forty-fifth anniversary of the 1972 Shanghai Communiqué. The Shanghai Communiqué is the first of three communiqués that laid the basis for the derecognition of Taiwan and the eventual normalization of relations between the United States and the PRC.