American presidents have been shipping boatloads of weapons to Taiwan since the Carter administration. Donald Trump is just the first to pick up the phone.
A Friday afternoon conversation between the incoming executive and Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen immediately sparked international controversy. It also subsequently shattered 37 years of American cognitive diplomatic dissidence.
Though the U.S. officially turned a cold shoulder to Taiwan in 1979, America has helped outfit the armory of the island nation with everything from Browning .50 Caliber Machine Guns to F16 Fighting Falcons. And it hasn’t been cheap.
From President Jimmy Carter to George Bush, the United States has made upwards of $24 billion in arms trades according to the Arms Control Association. In the last eight years, President Obama has made $14 billion in weapons available for purchase.
A week before Christmas last year, the Obama administration made the most recent shipment, sending Taiwan $1.83 billion worth of anti-tank missiles and amphibious attack vehicles.
While Taiwan was running up its bill with U.S. defense contractors, the White House never thought to ring Taipei. That’s thanks to the Taiwan Relations Act, which made it official American policy to ignore the Republic of China while also arming the island nation to the teeth. It’s a diplomatic paradox that dates back to the Cold War and persists today.
When Soviet Russia was still the greatest existential threat to the West, the U.S. looked to China as an Asian counterweight. To strengthen Sino-American ties, President Carter recognized communist Beijing in 1979, not democratic Taipei, as the country’s rightful capital. At the same time, the U.S. promised to export military hardware to Taiwan as a deterrent to China’s aggression.
The United States has been two timing with the Asian nations ever since. U.S. diplomatic cables go to Beijing and Army surplus heads to Taiwan. It’s continued that way even after the fall of the evil empire and China emerged as the preeminent threat in the region.
And then with his phone and Twitter account, Trump changed everything. On Friday evening the president-elect breached protocol by acknowledging what everyone already knows—specifically that Taiwan remains an important ally in the face of Chinese aggression.
Uncouth but not unobservant, Trump questioned how it’s “interesting how the U.S. sells Taiwan billions of dollars of military equipment but I should not accept a congratulatory call.” And he’s right as far as the money’s concerned.
Philip Wegmann is a commentary writer for the Washington Examiner.
