The capitulation of the Afghan government to the Taliban amidst the hurried withdrawal of the United States from the country has been seized upon by the Chinese government to warn its rival Taiwan that the US is an unreliable ally that will likely not support it in the event of a conflict.
The Global Times, a newspaper controlled by the Communist Party of China, for example, wrote that the Taliban’s victory has dealt ‘a heavy blow to the credibility and reliability of the US’.
China regards the island democracy as part of its territory and has threatened it with war to prevent a formal breakaway. The US has long provided Taiwan with an unofficial (and ambiguous) defence guarantee.
The US has reiterated support for a peaceful resolution of the tensions between the two countries. Taiwan’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Joseph Wu, tweeted in response: ‘Thanks for upholding the wishes & best interests of the people of #Taiwan. They include democracy & freedom from communism, authoritarianism & crimes against humanity. #China dreams of emulating the #Taliban, but let me be blunt: We’ve got the will & means to defend ourselves.’
China has in recent years ramped up the aggression in its posture vis-à-vis Taiwan. Taiwan has acknowledged that it needs to accept and adapt to this. Chiu Chui-cheng, a senior official at Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council – a body that helps manage relations with China – told the media: ‘We can always hope for the best, but we sure need to prepare for the worst.’
[Image: Rovin Ferrer on Unsplash]