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U.S. begins to adapt Taiwan policy: Easton

Taiwan Travel Act is beginning of new phase in U.S.-Taiwan relations

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Ian Easton of the Project 2049 Institute.

Ian Easton of the Project 2049 Institute. (CNA photo)

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) – As Chinese leader Xi Jinping (習近平) is tightening his grip on power, the United States have begun to adapt their policy toward Taiwan, Project 2049 Institute expert Ian Easton said.

Interviewed on a Taiwan radio talk show Friday morning, Easton said that past U.S. policies were wrong, and that the administration of President Donald Trump was reacting to China’s aggressiveness, not to seek conflict, but to maintain the status quo, as well as an equilibrium in relations.

The researcher described how mainstream thinking in the U.S. previously assumed that more investment in China would lead to gradual change in the direction of more freedom, the Liberty Times reported.

However, the opposite happened, Easton said, adding that the Trump Administration’s current trade sanctions against China were meant to maintain the U.S. position as the top superpower and to restore healthy trade relations.

Trump’s new choice as national security adviser, John Bolton, was likely to advise him to call President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), even if that meant angering China, according to Easton. The U.S. president was likely to accept such advice because he wasn’t a traditional politician, the Project 2049 Institute researcher said.

Whatever happened with the phone call, it would always anger China one way or another, unless Taiwan accepted unification, Easton said.

He also mentioned the signing of the Taiwan Travel Act on March 16 as an example of how the Trump Administration was starting to adapt its Taiwan policy, the Liberty Times reported. The law allows for high-level visits and meetings by government officials from the U.S. and Taiwan in each other’s country.