March 27, 2017
Taiwan’s Answer to Chinese Economic Coercion
A Japanese vice minister has become the highest-ranking Japanese official to visit Taiwan since Tokyo severed ties with the island in 1972. Jiro Akama, deputy minister of internal affairs and communications, opened a tourism fair and urged Taipei to relax the restrictions on food imports put in place after the Fukushima nuclear disaster.
Such mundane diplomacy would register barely a blip in any normal international relationship, but it represents a minor Taiwanese victory in the highly charged cross-strait relations between Taipei and Beijing. To the extent that it helps boost Japan’s economic ties with the island, it’s also an example for the region and beyond.
China today is subjecting Taiwan to its trademark economic coercion. Following Tsai Ing-wen’s 2016 election to Taiwan’s presidency after eight years of Kuomintang rule, Beijing dialed up the pressure. Its immediate demand is that Ms. Tsai endorse the “1992 Consensus,” an agreement that there exists one China (even as Taiwan and China differ on its meaning).
Read the full article at the Wall Street Journal.
More from CNAS
-
AUKUS weighs expanding security pact with Japan to deter China
Podcast
Australia and the United States have deepened their commitment to countering China's growing aggression in the Indo Pacific by bringing Japan into the fold. The allies announc...
By Richard Fontaine
-
Lisa Curtis on U.S. and Japan's Security Alliance
Video
Lisa Curtis talked about Japanese Prime Minister’s trip to the U.S. and the security alliance between the two countries amid threats from China. Watch the full video and more ...
By Lisa Curtis
-
Japan will probably be a member of AUKUS Pillar 2 'before too long,' Richard Fontaine says
Video
Richard Fontaine, CEO of the Center for New American Security, discusses Japan's relation to AUKUS, the Indo-Pacific security partnership between Australia, the United Kingdom...
By Richard Fontaine
-
Countering China’s Influence in Myanmar
Commentary
The United States must act now to capitalize on the momentum of the EAOs, taking immediate action to help shore up their efforts against the Junta....
By Nathaniel Schochet
