So if anything goes wrong, he has no one else to blame but himself.
I don't suspect that Xi Jinping is going to fail to get a third term, but I suspect he's going to find it a little more difficult than he thought.Īrmitage: Over the last two terms of his presidency, he has made himself the central authority on everything. The Yangtze River, which is just about out of water, unbearable heat in some parts of China. He's having to wrestle with climate change. He's having to wrestle with COVID, which is causing shutdowns all over China. Fact of the matter is, he's having to wrestle right now with an economy which is negative. Second, Xi Jinping can believe anything he wants about China rising and the West falling. And I suspect that this does not please everyone at the party congress, first of all. How does the upcoming Chinese Communist Party Congress impact Xi Jinping's decisions on things like military drills?Īrmitage: First of all, as we do understand, Xi Jinping is trying to have a third term, which is unprecedented in China. Xi Jinping believes the East is rising and the West is falling, declining. RFA: Compared to the crisis of 19, China, the United States and even Taiwan are totally different countries now. This is what has been brought about by the various crises. Now there are a minority who say they're Chinese.
And as such, I think the people of Taiwan and what we've seen from opinion polls in Taiwan, Taiwanese now are really in a great majority, saying they have unique Taiwanese identity. But this is the life that Taiwan and Taiwanese have lived under since coming ashore in Taiwan in 1949. So whether it's the forth or whatever, every day is a crisis of some sort. So what are your takeaways in terms of the ongoing situation?Īrmitage: Some people would say that it's been a crisis since 1979, when the United States severed official diplomatic relations with Taiwan. RFA: Some people are saying that we are in the fourth crisis on the Taiwan Strait. And they play it just by being boorish, by being bullying, and depending only on national military power. Now, what is the result of all this? The result is to show everyone in the region, Japan or Australia, how China plays ball. And so that's what China is trying to do with their recent exercise, the second exercise that military exercises around Taiwan. China has a playbook, too, but it's only got one play and that's militarily bullying people. It's a book that has all the different plays to run. What is your reading of the message that the Chinese trying to send to Japan and South Korea?Īrmitage: American football players get a playbook. friends in region, China also staged military drills around the Yellow and Bohai seas, which definitely had an effect on South Korea, the Americans as well. It's a good lesson for all our friends in the region. So that's a good lesson for people in Taiwan. Congress, the people who are elected by our people to represent them, stand on the issue of Taiwan's ability to determine their own future. RFA: Why does symbolism matter to both Taiwan and United States?Īrmitage: The symbolic matters because it shows to the region where the United States and the U.S. So we can have both the substance and the symbolism, which can, I think, prove to the people of Taiwan that we're serious. And I'm talking about things like mobile air defense, sea mines, things of that nature.
Biden redoubled their efforts to provide meaningful defensive equipment quickly. So in that regard, I think that the trip is well worthwhile and it'll be even better if now the administration and Mr.
lawmakers?Īrmitage: Generally I prefer substance over symbolism, but I do realize that symbolism is important too. RFA: What are your thoughts about recent visits to Taiwan by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other senior U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi early this month with massive war games and missile tests. The veteran Asia watcher spoke to Rita Cheng of RF Mandarin about the tension in the Taiwan Strait after a China responded to a visit to the island by U.S. Richard Armitage served as deputy assistant secretary of defense for East Asia and Pacific Affairs and assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs in the Ronald Reagan Administration, and deputy secretary of state in the George W.
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