乐鱼 体育

Strait to the Point: Current Challenges for Taiwan and US-Taiwan Relations

Taiwan鈥檚 always-difficult quest for status and security has reached a new inflection point, as have US-Taiwan relations. China launched military exercises following US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi鈥檚 visit to Taiwan鈥攂y some assessments the 鈥渇ourth cross-Strait crisis鈥� since the establishment of the People鈥檚 Republic of China. In recent years, US-China relations have deteriorated鈥攐n some accounts, verging on a new Cold War. Congress has passed an unprecedented raft of 鈥減ro-Taiwan鈥� legislation since 2016. President Biden and his administration have taken positions that arguably diverge significantly from traditional US formulations of 鈥渟trategic ambiguity.鈥� Russia鈥檚 invasion of Ukraine, as well as US and PRC assessments of each other as security threats, have raised anew the specter of aggression by鈥攁nd conflict among鈥攇reat powers. Concerns are rising about an increasingly powerful and assertive China鈥檚 possible impatience with a lack of progress on reunification of Taiwan. Taiwan鈥檚 impending presidential transition is creating uncertainties not seen in nearly a generation.

Amid these developments, and in the context of international institutional and normative orders that are under stress and fracturing, will the multifaceted strategies that Taiwan has pursued successfully to secure international space and support still work? How will they need to adapt to the challenges of our moment? What are the implications for US policy and US-Taiwan relations?

Jacques DeLisle

Jacques deLisle is the Stephen A. Cozen Professor of Law, Professor of Political Science, and Director of the Center for the Study of Contemporary China at the University of Pennsylvania, and Director of the Asia Program at the Foreign Policy Research Institute.  His writings, on China鈥檚 engagement with the international order, Taiwan鈥檚 international status and cross-Strait relations, Hong Kong鈥檚 trajectory under Chinese rule, and US-China relations have appeared in Journal of Contemporary China, Asia Policy, China Review, Orbis, Administrative Law Review and other academic and policy journals and edited volumes. He is the co-editor of, and contributor to, The Party Leads All: The Role of the Chinese Communist Party in China鈥檚 Politics, Governance, Society, Economy, and External Relations (2022), After Engagement: Dilemmas in U.S.-China Security Relations (2021), Taiwan in the Era of Tsai Ing-wen (2021), To Get Rich is Glorious: Challenges Facing China鈥檚 Economic Reform and Opening at Forty (2019); China's Global Engagement: Cooperation, Competition, and Influence in the 21st Century (2017); The Internet, Social Media, and a Changing China (2016); Political Changes in Taiwan under Ma Ying-jeou (2014), and China鈥檚 Challenges (2014).