The Trump Administration, hoping for a big bilateral trade deal with China, is delaying a large arms sale already approved by Congress. President Trump’s own remarks about Taiwan are not encouraging: He has said on multiple occasions that Taiwan is unimportant compared with China, is indefensible, should pay the US protection money – and “stole” America’s semiconductor manufacturing industry. The successful pressure on Taiwan to build fabs in the US seemingly reduces Washington’s incentive to get involved in a cross-Strait war.
It is not surprising, therefore, to find observers urging Taipei to surrender. A recent example is South China Morning Post columnist Alex Lo’s October 23 opinion piece, which argues that “Taiwan might as well give up now.”