Strategic ambiguity ensures strait peace

Views from around the world. These opinions are not necessarily shared by newspapers.

Ambiguity can serve a constructive purpose so long as clarity may be seen as dangerously provocative. That characterises the nature of American support for Taiwan. There is an argument that a policy of “strategic ambiguity”, embodied in the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act, has helped safeguard the status quo and prevent war for 40 years. Any debate whether that support needs to be made more explicit causes unease on both sides.

But President Donald Trump has campaigned on a tougher approach to China, including more open support for Taiwan politically, economically and militarily. This has provided a platform for US policy hawks. Growing calls for a shift to an explicit commitment to defend the selfruled island threaten to further undermine US-China relations. Improved Washington-Taipei ties range from reciprocal business and trade support to Taiwan’s backing for efforts to limit China’s role in global 5G networks to major arms deals. Beijing has responded by mounting intensive military drills in the Taiwan Strait. Its goal is peaceful reunion but, should there be moves for independence on the island, it is willing to take it back by force. Both Washington and Beijing need to rein in policy hawks, who both feed and provoke radical sentiment in Taiwan. Trump needs to be mindful that a policy of strategic ambiguity has ensured peace, security and stability across the strait.