America’s decades-old policy of “strategic ambiguity” has become an embarrassment and a stain on its reputation as a defender of freedom and democracy. Many government officials, along with Hollywood and the business community, are so anxious about angering China that they risk twisting themselves into pretzels in order to avoid saying what ordinary people take for granted: Taiwan is a country.
There’s nothing “strategic” about making yourself look bad — just ask John Cena. In place of “strategic ambiguity,” America and other democracies should adopt “strategic integrity,” a policy of speaking and acting in a way that is consistent with shared moral principles.
Last year, the United States passed the TAIPEI Act, which states that the U.S. should “support Taiwan in strengthening its official diplomatic relationships … with countries in the Indo-Pacific and around the world.” While the intentions are good, the law stinks of double standards. America has no moral authority to tell other countries to maintain formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan as long as it fails to do so itself.
In a few months, President Joe Biden will host a “Summit for Democracy.” Its purpose is to bring together democratic leaders from around the world to “set forth an agenda for democratic renewal and to tackle the greatest threats faced by democracies today through collective action.” One of the top items on the agenda should be a multilateral initiative to recognize Taiwan diplomatically. The Chinese Communist Party can easily retaliate against one small country that acts alone, such as Lithuania, but it can’t simultaneously punish the entire democratic world without significantly damaging its own interests.
Due to the approaching Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics, democracies will have extra leverage to deter CCP belligerence. Democracies can warn the CCP that if it responds to diplomatic recognition of Taiwan with threats of violence, they will immediately announce the Olympic boycott that human rights organizations have long been advocating. If the CCP threatens to break off diplomatic relations, democracies should let it.
All of the reasons used to justify a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics can be used to justify a diplomatic boycott of China altogether. From an ethical perspective, our diplomatic relations with China and Taiwan have been completely backward.
If democracies end formal ties, they could still maintain informal ties with China by letting it change the name of each of its embassies to “Beijing Economic and Cultural Representative Office,” as is the current practice with Taiwan.
The Taiwan Relations Act is a 1979 U.S. law that was passed after the U.S. cut ties with Taiwan and established ties with China. The law states that “the United States decision to establish diplomatic relations with the People’s Republic of China rests upon the expectation that the future of Taiwan will be determined by peaceful means; to consider any effort to determine the future of Taiwan by other than peaceful means … a threat to the peace and security of the Western Pacific area and of grave concern to the United States.”
Taken at face value, the law suggests that America has more than enough reasons to cut ties with China. The Chinese military flies warplanes into Taiwan’s airspace on a daily basis in order to intimidate its citizens. The clear message is that if the Taiwanese refuse to accept the CCP as their sovereign ruler, they will someday pay for it with their lives. Such behavior is the antithesis of “peaceful.” It is psychological violence, a kind of terrorism.
The foundation upon which America and other democracies established diplomatic relations with China has been severely eroded. These ties are a privilege, not a right that the CCP can take for granted. Democracies should not hesitate to withdraw the privilege or to award it to a country that deserves it: Taiwan.
A growing number of American political figures have publicly expressed support for diplomatic recognition of Taiwan, including former U.N. ambassador and national security adviser John Bolton, Rep. Tom Tiffany, Rep. Lance Gooden, and Donald Trump Jr., the son of the former president. Tiffany has sponsored a concurrent resolution in the House that calls for diplomatic recognition of Taiwan. So far, five other lawmakers have signed on as co-sponsors.
Taiwan is not China’s “internal matter.” It is an international matter that concerns all of us, especially democracies.
We must take ownership of this fact and stop letting the CCP propaganda machine control the discourse. If we wake up one morning to see news headlines and horrifying images of Chinese soldiers invading Taiwan, the Chinese government will claim that it is righteously defending its sovereignty and territorial integrity and that foreign countries have no right to interfere in its internal affairs.
We need to ask ourselves right now: Are we going to swallow this propaganda and use it as an excuse to do nothing? Will we ignore Taiwanese pleas for help as their cities burn and their loved ones die?
Hopefully not, but we risk this outcome as long as our governments continue to endorse the fiction that “there is but one China, and Taiwan is part of China.” Letting the CCP incorrectly believe that democracies won’t come to Taiwan’s aid is a very dangerous mistake, one that could lead to a reckless CCP gamble, resulting in an actual invasion and war.
It’s time to stop the diplomatic discrimination, equivocation, self-censorship, hypocrisy, and lies. The 23.5 million citizens of democratic Taiwan deserve to be treated with respect.
Diplomatically recognizing Taiwan sends an urgently needed message, and it’s also the right thing to do. Let’s not wait until it is too late.
Lindell Lucy is an American activist based in Tokyo who has started an online petition calling on democracies to recognize Taiwan diplomatically.
