The Marginalization of Taiwan Must End: A Response

Judith Norton

Security, Asia

It is not clear what advantage the United States would gain by returning to Cold War practices.

Rep. Ted Yoho’s article highlights the challenges the United States faces in maintaining a consistent policy toward the People’s Republic of China (PRC) and Taiwan. But his article tends to fall short. It tends to misjudge the dynamics in the rapidly changing cross-strait relationship and some of the drivers undermining U.S. policy, including the United States’ failure to systematically advance the One China Policy over the One China Principle, which gave an advantage to PRC in the international system.

One Flag, Multiple Interpretations

Yoho notes the removal of the Republic of China (ROC) national flag from U.S. government websites “may seem trivial” but “for Taiwan even the subtlest implications about its status can be highly significant.” Recently I made a similar argument but contended that the flag’s removal could be misperceived by the Kuomintang of China (KMT), Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), and PRC, which could create a source of instability and lead to potential escalation in cross-strait ties.

The KMT maintains an established policy to unify Taiwan with the PRC under the system of democracy and rule of law. The ROC national flag represents its vision; consequently the KMT could perceive the flag’s removal as weakening U.S. support for its unification efforts.

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