Sandra Woodkirk, who served as U.S. representative to Taiwan for three years, said goodbye. Don’t panic about China’s aggressive language and moves and don’t become insensitive to the danger.
Ms. Woodkirk served as Washington’s de facto ambassador to Taiwan at a time when the island’s democracy was a crucible of tension between Washington and Beijing. China, she argues, believes Taiwan is its territory and should accept unification by force if Chinese leaders decide it is necessary.
Sometimes the debate between politicians, officials and experts in Taiwan and the United States is what mix of tactics – what military purchases, reassuring or firm words to Beijing, actions with fellow democracies – can best reduce risks. has caused some tension in the debate. of war.
Ms Oudkirk, who leaves Taipei early next month, suggested that Taiwan and its partners should find a steady path, avoiding hysteria and complacency.
“This is a question we get asked all the time about how dangerous Taiwan is,” she said, referring to talk of impending crisis or war. “You know, Taiwan is the most dangerous place in the world,” she said. “Sometimes sound bites don’t really capture the whole reality,” she said.
But she added about China: “When governments, countries and leaders tell us their thoughts and plans, you should listen to what they say.”
Even after decades of haranguing from Beijing, many Taiwanese pay little attention. China’s military exercises and airspace intrusions are expanding, but still rarely cause public alarm. A majority of Taiwanese also say they believe the United States would intervene if China truly threatened to invade.
However, this belief is not universal among Taiwanese politicians and voters, some of whom are skeptical of America’s commitment and intentions.
The United States is legally committed to helping Taiwan defend itself and has the option of sending U.S. troops if China attempts to take over by force. Some U.S. commanders and experts said an invasion was likely imminent. A few years ago, some mentioned 2027 as a potential date for Chinese military action. But Biden administration officials said there was no firm deadline for Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Nonetheless, China’s pressure campaign on Taiwan, located about 100 miles off the coast, intensified in the years leading up to Ms. Woodkirk’s tenure as the top U.S. representative on the island.
She was first appointed consul to Taiwan in 1992, when the island was emerging from decades of martial law and China was much less wealthy and better armed. She later held positions in Dublin, Istanbul and Beijing.
Ms. Woodkirk became the de facto ambassador to Taiwan in mid-2021. The start of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a few months later deepened Taiwan’s concerns about a similar gamble of an armed takeover by China. In August 2022, the Chinese military conducted its largest-ever drills around Taiwan, which Beijing said was in retaliation after then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei.
In this year’s Taiwan presidential election, Lai Ching-de, whom China strongly dislikes, won, and after taking office in May, China conducted military exercises near Taiwan again, drawing strong criticism from China. Mr Lai said at the time that he wanted to preserve Taiwan’s status quo – self-governing but not formally declaring independence. Chinese officials responded with heated and distrustful public reaction.
“His May 20 speech was a blatant declaration of Taiwanese independence from beginning to end.” Lieutenant General He Lei, former vice president of the Chinese Academy of Military Sciences, said in a recent interview while visiting Singapore for a conference. “Now, if we go deeper and deeper into Taiwan’s independence path, it will only bring greater danger to the Taiwan Strait.”
To counter China’s warnings and growing power, Taiwan and the United States have strengthened cooperation, and the U.S. representative office on a hill northeast of Taipei is a concrete and steel symbol of that relationship.
Its official name is the American Institute in Taiwan, which may sound more like a language school than a diplomatic mission. The ambiguous name is a concession to the fact that Washington ended formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1979 as U.S. perceptions shifted toward Beijing.
The American Institute’s office has been located in a crowded office in downtown Taipei for several years, so its official presence has diminished. The operation went to great lengths to keep a low profile, and the American flag was not flown regularly for decades.
Things are different now. The new laboratory complex, built in 2019, has up to 585 employees, up from 488 in 2019, according to the media outlet. The American flag is now a constant presence on the building.
“This is an example of how the U.S.-Taiwan relationship has evolved,” Brent Christensen, former director of the Woodkirk Institute for American Studies in Taiwan, said in an interview. He currently teaches at Brigham Young University.
“Most people follow precedent,” Mr. Christensen said. “But the Trump administration didn’t really care much about precedent, so it was a helpful time to move beyond some of these restrictions that we had imposed on ourselves.”
Ms. Woodkirk said the Russian invasion of Ukraine marked a particular turning point in strengthening Taiwan’s relationship with the United States during the three years she served as director.
“Ukraine’s ability to withstand a Russian invasion has been featured heavily in the news here, especially in 2022,” she said. “This has sparked great public interest and debate about ‘What does this mean for Taiwan?’”
Former Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) increased the conscription period for men from four months to one year in 2022. Taiwan has also been ordering more mobile missiles and other agile weapons that could deter Chinese attacks.
Kuo Yu-jen, a political science professor at National Sun Yat-Sen University in southern Taiwan, said, “The level of strategic integration between Taiwan and the United States is at its highest since they severed diplomatic ties in 1979.”
Not all Taiwanese people welcome tense hugs. Mr. Oudkirk’s period as leader also coincided with a new trend that locals called “.”Lee Meilun,” which has raised skepticism about the United States, especially among Taiwan and voters who believe the United States is unnecessarily hostile to China.
Some of the mistrust about U.S. intentions or capabilities to support Taiwan reflected China’s intelligence operations, which fueled doubts, but others reflected the general ebb and flow of disagreements in democracies, he said.
She gets a lot of questions about whether America’s impending election could lead to a change in support in the country. She has maintained a characteristically diplomatic demeanor on that front.
“In the United States, unlike other foreign policy or domestic policy issues, there is broad, bipartisan consensus on policy toward Taiwan,” she told reporters at her farewell news conference Friday. “So I don’t think the election will necessarily change that.”
