Is the US using Taiwan card as a last resort?

By Mariam Shah

When the world powers need to collaborate on critical issues like climate change, pandemics, and growing global humanitarian crises, the U.S. keeps hyping the Taiwan question, challenging the one-China principle and stirring the waves of global instability and creating apprehensions.

The U.S. sent shock waves in the region when the U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi flew to China's Taiwan last month on an unannounced trip. It was one of the severe blows to China-U.S. diplomatic relations, triggering massive provocation, tensions, and apprehensions across the strait. Somehow, from the yearlong irrational strategic actions by the U.S., including AUKUS and providing $6.5 billion in military aid giving Taiwan the same benefits as major non-NATO allies, America seems to be flexing its muscles as a declining power. 

The U.S. appears to be hyping the Taiwan question more often now just to run a litmus test, instigate provocations, and exert its fading domination. By repeatedly playing the Taiwan card and intimidation tactics, the U.S. is trying to create a considerable security dilemma for the region, which can jeopardize regional peace and stability.

A few days ago, U.S. President Joe Biden spoke in a CBS "60 Minutes" interview that the U.S. troops will "defend Taiwan" if there is an "unprecedented attack." This is not the first time Biden has voiced on this matter; he shared similar views in a CNN town hall October of last year. These irrational and non-pragmatic statements should not come from the U.S. president.

The Taipei 101 skyscraper commands the urban landscape in Taipei, China's Taiwan. [Photo/Xinhua]

In a recent meeting with the former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China is open to a "new journey" of peaceful coexistence with the U.S., which is a significant initiative on behalf of China at a very critical juncture. China has been stating vital principles, including mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation, as core to developing China-U.S. relations. 

Since its withdrawal from Afghanistan last year, the U.S. has been absorbed in a notion of "perceived China threat" and "containing China." Rather than adopting a "rational and practical policy" toward China, the United States is bent on negating the core of the bilateral relations between the two countries. America needs to think on rational lines, as all these actions are digging already existing crevices for a new Cold War era. 

Instead of viewing China as a "prominent rival and a long-term challenger," the U.S. needs to consider it a "partner" on both economic and developmental fronts. Though there are fewer certainties and more uncertainties that the China-U.S. relationship will grow in the right direction, it is still high time for America to rise above the politics of zero-sum games. The U.S. must establish a sensible and realistic policy towards China, shunning the Cold War mentality. President Joe Biden said in his speech at the 77th Session of United Nation General Assembly on September 21 that the U.S. remains "committed to its one-China policy." It is time to show this commitment in true letter and spirt.  

The world needs powers that believe in mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win for everyone, rather than hegemonic states that only care about their supremacy. The U.S. needs to come out of its arrogance and reflect on its warlike behavior, as the world needs peace more than anything else. It is time for the U.S. to cease coercing and ganging up with its allies and step forward to relieve the suffering caused by war, climate change, and disease.

The author is an Islamabad-based independent researcher in the field of conflict studies and military psychology.