Opinion | On Taiwan, Biden Should Find His Inner Truman
New York TimesMay 25, 2022
Taiwan's Pres. Tsai Ing-wen announced on Tues. that Taipei and Washington were "proactively" planning to deepen security ties, including cooperation between the US National Guard and Taiwan's military.
This comes a day after China's military entered Taiwan's air defense identification zone (ADIZ) with 30 aircraft, including 22 fighter jets, according to Taiwan's Ministry of National Defense. It was the largest incursion of the ADIZ - which extends beyond Taiwan's territorial airspace and over part of mainland China - since January.
The battle between democracy and authoritarianism is in full swing, and China's expansionist ambitions must be firmly countered. Biden knew exactly what he was doing, and he did the right thing by announcing that the US would defend Taiwan. To deter Beijing, it's high time to take a clear stance and deepen military ties with Taiwan.
The US is still trapped in the mindset of its supposed "exceptionalism," and desperately seeking to defend its state of hegemony against China. But the days of unipolarity are over, and Washington should reconsider whether it wants to continue undermining the world order with its short-sighted tactics or if it wants to help create a multipolar order based on mutual respect.
There is a 25% chance that China will launch a full-scale invasion of Taiwan before 2030, according to the Metaculus prediction community.