Written by Staff Writer
News recently broke that the US Congress has passed a law aimed at getting China to open up more of its markets to Taiwan, and this has caused a great deal of concern in the Chinese government. The US bill requires the President of the United States to certify that China’s current restrictions against Taiwan do not harm the interests of the US.
If President Trump fails to sign the bill into law, Taiwan will no longer be given Washington’s right to buy military weaponry from it.
This is because the US is the only country that allows Taiwan to buy military equipment, unlike any other country. China believes that the US is doing this as a means of containing Chinese influence.
Taiwan’s elite has had a lot of money and success in America. To this end, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs — the mission of Taiwan’s government — started building a US embassy in 2016 in a not so secretive location in the District of Columbia.
This long-term-plan office, named Taipei 101, is a 24-hour operations center that coordinates with government agencies around the world, and Taiwan has long claimed to be the global leader in intelligence gathering.
Of course this may all be speculation, but Chinese sources are indicating the US law is in direct violation of the 1978 Taiwan Relations Act, and that they will make the US aware of this ahead of Trump’s expected visit to Beijing in May.
Here are five basic facts about Taiwan, how the Chinese government would react, and what does this mean for Americans living in the region.
