President Donald Trump said he didn’t want to comment when asked Wednesday whether it was the policy of his administration to prevent China from taking control of Taiwan by force.
That is a particularly warmongering question, if he says yes he commits to war with China over an issue they regard as domestic and so possibly inflames the situation and if he says no it categorically removes a limiting factor on China and so encourages invasion. Either way it is seeking to create news by endangering the lives of people.
The US has been trying to maintain that ambiguity for decades, as it’s widely seen as the best strategy to prevent a war.
Unfortunately, the potential threat of US military intervention can only be an effective deterrent if the administration backing that threat up is taken seriously. And with Trump being a weak, unprincipled narcissist who seems to be determined to do whatever he can to undermine US power and influence around the world, it’s hard to imagine that anyone would conclude that he’d commit to a difficult war to save an ally.
That is a particularly warmongering question, if he says yes he commits to war with China over an issue they regard as domestic and so possibly inflames the situation and if he says no it categorically removes a limiting factor on China and so encourages invasion. Either way it is seeking to create news by endangering the lives of people.
The US has been trying to maintain that ambiguity for decades, as it’s widely seen as the best strategy to prevent a war.
Unfortunately, the potential threat of US military intervention can only be an effective deterrent if the administration backing that threat up is taken seriously. And with Trump being a weak, unprincipled narcissist who seems to be determined to do whatever he can to undermine US power and influence around the world, it’s hard to imagine that anyone would conclude that he’d commit to a difficult war to save an ally.