The main flaw with the argument presented is that it makes a huge leap from ‘Obama shows support for the One-China policy’ to ‘China uses this as evidence that it can do whatever it wants’.
The far greater change within China was the ascendance of Xi Jinping, not anything that America does (ironically, exactly what the user ends up suggesting you look at for Taiwan)
I don’t really follow official statements from the US government, but can anyone who does say that the statement linked in the argument represents some major departure from US policy? Could it not simply be standard diplomacy talk? I think it’s a major stretch to go from that statement to ‘Obama’s Pro-PRC policy’.
It was reported on at the time as unusual, and created a bit of a row between Taiwan and USA. The critical part of the white house statement is this:
President Obama on various occasions has reiterated that the U.S. side adheres to the one-China policy, abides by the three Sino-U.S. joint communiqués, and respects China’s sovereignty and the territorial integrity when it comes to the Taiwan question and other matters.
In the terms of China/Taiwan relations, this is effectively carte blanche for China to do as it pleases. “Respects China’s sovereignty and the territorial integrity” means “we won’t intervene.” And it calls out Taiwan specifically.
Under the old status quo this might have been phrased as “concurs that Taiwan is a province of China” or some such. The key words here are “sovereignty” and “territorial integrity” which means interference would be interpreted as an international incident.
The main flaw with the argument presented is that it makes a huge leap from ‘Obama shows support for the One-China policy’ to ‘China uses this as evidence that it can do whatever it wants’.
The far greater change within China was the ascendance of Xi Jinping, not anything that America does (ironically, exactly what the user ends up suggesting you look at for Taiwan)
I don’t really follow official statements from the US government, but can anyone who does say that the statement linked in the argument represents some major departure from US policy? Could it not simply be standard diplomacy talk? I think it’s a major stretch to go from that statement to ‘Obama’s Pro-PRC policy’.
It was reported on at the time as unusual, and created a bit of a row between Taiwan and USA. The critical part of the white house statement is this:
In the terms of China/Taiwan relations, this is effectively carte blanche for China to do as it pleases. “Respects China’s sovereignty and the territorial integrity” means “we won’t intervene.” And it calls out Taiwan specifically.
Under the old status quo this might have been phrased as “concurs that Taiwan is a province of China” or some such. The key words here are “sovereignty” and “territorial integrity” which means interference would be interpreted as an international incident.