US President Donald Trump warned Taiwan not to formally declare independence from China in an interview with Fox News after his two-day summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing. Trump reiterated that US policy has not changed and stressed that Washington does not seek conflict with Beijing.
Taiwan’s position
Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te has previously said that Taiwan does not need to formally declare independence, as it already considers itself a sovereign state.
Beijing has repeatedly attacked Lai, calling him a “troublemaker” and a “destroyer of cross-Strait peace.”
Although many Taiwanese consider themselves a separate nation, the majority support maintaining the current status quo, without formal independence or unification with China.
Taiwan’s Foreign Minister Lin Chia-lung said the government was closely following the US-China summit and was in close communication with Washington and other countries.
The goal, he said, is to “steadily deepen Taiwan-US relations and safeguard Taiwan’s interests.”
At the same time, he accused China of increasing the risk in the region through “aggressive military actions and authoritarian oppression.”
The truth behind why Trump doesn’t want Taiwan to officially declare independence from China
China is not really in a hurry to take Taiwan by land. It wants to take it whole. The potential war destroys what it wants to acquire (the factories, the know-how, their. If Taiwan makes an official declaration of independence, China will be forced to attack (because it has institutionalized it as a casus belli).
So Trump is essentially locking Taiwan into semi-autonomy so that the mechanism is not activated. At the same time, he is sending a message to Xi: “I am not Biden. If you stay quiet, we can play.” The Trump-Taiwan-China Triangle is currently functioning as a systemic stabilizer. All three sides (although apparently enemies) currently have an interest in not breaking the porcelain.
Because Taiwan is the only real advanced semiconductor production hub on the planet (TSMC). A war there would be the equivalent of blowing up the global data layer. It is not just economic, you say clearly existential for the 4th generation industrial/military revolution (AI, hypersonics, quantum, drone swarms). The system needs a controlled tripolar competition (US-China-Russia) that does not degenerate into an all-out conflict before the transition to the new financial/technological paradigm is complete.
Taiwan is the trigger point. Whoever presses it prematurely, spoils the schedule. Trump here plays the role of brake pedal just as he played it with Iran in 2017-2020. He is not “peace-loving”. He is functional within the larger system.
