Now China has changed its policy towards Taiwan, America should too: Senator Chris Murphy

“THOSE WHO play with fire will perish by it.” Xi Jinping’s threat to Joe Biden in July was a warning against Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. And after her departure from the island, China fired ballistic missiles and took other dangerous actions in the waters surrounding the island. Twenty-two Chinese aircraft crossed the median line dividing the Taiwan Strait. Ships from the Chinese navy ran drills that mimicked a blockade of Taiwan—no small threat for an island which imports over 60% of its food and 98% of its energy.

For the past four decades, Republican and Democratic American presidents have maintained the policy of “strategic ambiguity” toward the defence of Taiwan, maintaining the capacity and military capabilities to defend the island against attack by China without explicitly committing America to doing so. And the policy has been a success, preserving peace for those four decades. Strategic ambiguity forces China to consider that invading its island neighbour could set off a war with America, while simultaneously communicating support to the democratic people of Taiwan that without an explicit guarantee of American military assistance, Taipei should be careful about taking its own provocative steps to revise a stable status quo. Our policy has also kept our most important security allies across the world, especially in Europe, together on Taiwan strategy.