Global Times recently published a commentary right after the U.S. House of Representatives passed the Taiwan Travel Act. The Act encourages exchange visits between the United States and Taiwan on “all levels.” If this Act were to be signed into law, it would signal a fundamental change in U.S. Taiwan policies. It would allow high ranking Taiwanese government officials, such as the President, the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and the Minister of Defense to visit the United States. The current law in effect, the Taiwan Relations Act, has governed the flexible relationship between the States and Taiwan for decades. It does ban the high-level exchange visits of government officials. Although the Senate has not yet passed the Taiwan Travel Act, the fact that it was even discussed in the House used to be flat out unimaginable. A lot of “power players” in the U.S. wish they could reactivate the Taiwan issue to gamble with China. However, the time for the U.S. to dominate Taiwan Strait affairs has long ended. The new law could lead to a broken balance that would force China to take actions big enough to cause the same level of damage to the U.S. In fact, a potential military move could destroy Taiwan.
Source: Global Times, January 10, 2018
http://opinion.huanqiu.com/editorial/2018-01/11512000.html