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photo: ROC Presidential Office Former US Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage meets with President Tsai Ing-wen in the Presidential Office in Taipei.
Strategic Vision vol. 10, no. 49 (May, 2021)
Appraising Biden New US administration seen continuing America’s support for Taiwan security Thomas J. Shattuck
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hile Former US President Donald Trump was viewed as one of Taiwan’s greatest friends by certain camps in Taiwan, the US-Taiwan relationship under the Trump administration was largely characterized by uncertainty and unpredictability. After he took office in January 2017, reports—and worries—abounded about whether or not President Trump would use Taiwan
sort of grand deal with the PRC? The 45th President infamously compared Taiwan to the tip of a marker in terms of its importance compared to China’s. For four years, career civil servants in the United States and around the world were unable to predict what Trump would do—or tweet—next. Time and time again, US government officials offered reassurances that Taiwan would never be used as a bargaining chip,
as a bargaining chip in negotiations with the People’s Republic of China (PRC). He was, after all, an expert dealmaker who famously put all options on the table. Would he put Taiwan on the table to strike some
but this unpredictability never subsided in the media, despite the passage of a number of pro-Taiwan laws during the Trump era. After four years of Trump’s unpredictability at an end, how should US-Taiwan
Thomas J. Shattuck is a research fellow in the Asia Program and Managing Editor at the Foreign Policy Research Institute. He can be reached at tshattuck@fpri.org