Chinese officials never miss a chance to declare Taiwan a “core interest,” even in meetings on unrelated issues.
This is not routine diplomacy. It is a deliberate campaign to normalize Beijing’s claims, shrink the boundaries of acceptable debate in Washington, and portray Taiwan as a dangerous liability best left alone.
US President Donald Trump’s recent comments after meeting Chinese leader Xi Jinping suggest this narrative is gaining ground. After the meeting, Trump said he “knows more about Taiwan than almost any country.”
Yet his framing — urging Taipei to “cool it” while treating Beijing’s military coercion as background noise — risks inverting reality and undermining long-term US interests in the Indo-Pacific.
Taiwan has acted as a responsible democracy. The ruling Democratic Progressive Party has never sought formal independence.
Meanwhile, China has intensified military drills, gray-zone pressure, and incursions near Taiwan. The US’ strategic ambiguity was designed to deter reckless action by both sides. It was never meant to become a one-sided restraint on Taipei while Beijing expands its threats.
Trump is right to demand that Taiwan spend more on its own defense and purchase more US weapons. Taipei has begun to respond positively.
6 assurances
But discussing those arms sales directly with Xi Jinping sends the wrong signal. It undermines the spirit of former US President Ronald Reagan’s 1982 Six Assurances, which explicitly state the US would not consult Beijing in advance on arms sales to Taiwan.
Furthermore, once defensive support for a democratic partner becomes a bargaining chip in US-China negotiations, Washington signals that its commitments are transactional and reversible.
This approach carries serious risks. If Taiwan’s security can be traded away under pressure, US allies in the region — Japan, South Korea, and the Philippines — will rightly question US reliability.
Geographic distance is no excuse for retrenchment. Beijing’s ambitions extend far beyond Taiwan. China’s militarization of the South China Sea, its pressure around the Senkaku Islands, its intrusion into Japan’s airspace, and harassment of Japan’s patrol aircraft already point to a broader regional trajectory aimed at challenging the incumbent powers.
Taiwan’s location is strategically vital. Taiwan’s sovereign control over its airspace and surrounding waters is more than an inconvenience for Chinese warplanes and naval forces. It impedes China’s ability to project power freely into the wider Pacific.
Chinese access must pass through narrow chokepoints in the First Island Chain, primarily the Miyako Strait to Taiwan’s northeast and the Bashi Channel to its south. Taiwan is a strategic lock. Removing that obstacle would dramatically expand Chinese power projection and weaken the US’ forward defense posture.
Trump’s transactional instincts served him well in some trade negotiations. But deterrence is not a line item on a balance sheet.
It is a psychological reality built on credibility. If a US president appears open to negotiating away support for a key partner, Beijing wins a major strategic victory without firing a shot.
Clear lines
Washington must draw clear lines. The US should publicly reaffirm the Reagan-era Six Assurances and make clear that arms sales to Taiwan will not be subject to prior consultation or negotiation with Beijing.
Treating Taiwan’s defensive needs as a bargaining chip in US-China diplomacy only weakens deterrence and encourages further Chinese aggression. In addition, Washington should significantly accelerate security cooperation with Taipei, moving beyond occasional arms packages to deeper joint contingency planning, real-time intelligence sharing, and realistic war games that prepare both sides for a potential conflict.
At the same time, the US must continue pressing Taiwan to shoulder more of the burden. Taipei should raise its defense spending to at least 3% of GDP and prioritize defense modernization and deployment of serious asymmetric capabilities — such as mobile anti-ship missiles, drone swarms, and dispersed munitions stockpiles.
A stronger, better-prepared Taiwan is essential not only for its own survival but for making any Chinese invasion attempt far more costly and uncertain. Only by combining firm US strategic clarity with serious Taiwanese self-reliance can deterrence in the Taiwan Strait be credibly restored.
Losing the argument over Taiwan will not preserve peace. It will invite further coercion across the wider Indo-Pacific region. The US’ adversaries in Beijing, Pyongyang, and Moscow are watching closely.
If Washington allows authoritarian powers to define the value of its democratic partners, US leadership in the region will collapse — not gradually, but visibly.
The author ([email protected]) previously served as a distinguished adjunct lecturer at Taiwan’s War College and is the founder of Taiwan Advocacy, an organization dedicated to Taiwan’s security.
