The U.S. Navy continues its Freedom of Navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait. "The U.S. Navy will continue to sail wherever international law allows," the press releases say. Well, yes. Putting the 7th Fleet between the Chinese Mainland and Taiwan is standard American practice wherever either side starts saber rattling and has been since about 1950. But I wonder if the Navy isn't also engaging in another time honored practice, that of provoking the other side to fire the first shot. I hope Washington knows what it's doing.
Would be inclined to think that at least two of the three parties, really do not want shots being fired while the 7th fleet is in the straits. Would also imagine the third party doesn’t really want it either.
I'm not sure. I'm really not sure. A good argument can be made that the Taiwan Strait isn't international waters at all. Is this provocation really necessary? I keep thinking, "What would happen if the Chinese sent their destroyer through the Strait of Juan de Fuca, turned around in Admiralty Inlet and steamed out again? How would WE respond? How would the Canadians respond?"
Personally believe that Freedom of Navigations are valuable. If we weren’t performing them, there’s no question China would claim the straights. No other Navy has the ability to project power like ours. While I understand the concern regarding situational provocation, not performing these would effectively be a surrender of the straights and Taiwan’s special status. We still have a legal requirement to defend Taiwan and arguably a moral one. Would also be inclined to emphasize that defending the status quo is not provocation, attempting to alter the status quo through veiled threats and soft war techniques IS provocation.
That is a very accurate assessment. Part of the problem, though, s that we, the U.S. I mean, deliberately haven't stated exactly what we think is Taiwan's legal status. That matters.
The Salish Sea is narrow enough that all of it is within 12 nautical miles of the U.S. or Canada. There are no international waters there. The Straight of Taiwan is much broader, with a strip of international waters between China and Taiwan. So in that sense, it's not the same. And this sort of show of force is necessary if U.S. policymakers are going to be convincing in their claim to be willing to fight to preserve Taiwan's de facto independence. But if the question is whether that's a claim that U.S. policymakers should be making in the first place, yeah, that's another matter. It would seem to be a lot cheaper to offer permanent residency to anyone holding a Taiwanese passport, and just build some semiconductor factories in the U.S.
Yes, exactly. I'm thinking about whether discretion wouldn't be the better part of valor since we haven't actually said whether Taiwan is an independent sovereign. I'm not defending the Communist Party or the government of China; the two are essentially the same thing, but I do wonder if this is a good idea.
