After the U.S. House of Representatives passed the "2018 National Defense Authorization Act" on July 14 to advocate the so-called "reciprocal visits of Taiwan and U.S. warships," the U.S. Senate also passed this bill on September 19, requiring an assessment of the possibility of

Text/Guo Zhihong

After the U.S. House of Representatives passed the "2018 National Defense Authorization Act " on July 14 to advocate the so-called "Taiwan and U.S. warship exchange visits," the U.S. Senate also passed this bill on September 19, requiring an assessment of "Taiwan and U.S. the possibility of mutual visits by warships. Lin Heming, spokesperson for Tsai Ing-wen's office, publicly expressed "thank you for paying attention" to the US side.

"Taiwan-U.S. warship exchange visits" seriously challenge the "One China" red line. Taiwan is China's indivisible territory. If a US warship docks in Taiwan, it will be tantamount to infringing on China's sovereignty and territory.

Taiwan and the United States seek mutual visits by warships, and each has its own agenda. Judging from the current specific political environment in Taiwan, after the Green Camp came to power, it has wholeheartedly followed the route of "hidden Taiwan independence" and "de-Chinaization". Under the premise that its military strength cannot provide sufficient confidence, it has "allied with the United States to resist China". "This is the political asylum that the Taiwan authorities are eager to seek. Promoting mutual visits by warships is the first step to achieve this goal. For the United States, mutual visits by warships from both sides have more political significance than military significance. They also mean using Taiwan as a bargaining chip to pressure China and negotiate terms.

After the 2008 financial crisis, the national power of the United States has been declining. In addition, in recent years, the rise of ISIS in the Middle East, the civil war in Syria, and the civil unrest in Eastern Ukraine have made the "world police" increasingly unable to do its job. coincides with the recent nuclear weapons of North Korea. Having made great progress and posed an increasingly substantial threat to the United States and its allies, it is not surprising that Taiwan would be used as an "old card" in exchange for mainland China making some "concessions" to the United States on the above-mentioned issues. .

Looking at the development of Sino-US relations, there is such a rule : During the period of rising Sino-US relations, "US-Taiwan relations" were relatively cold, while cross-strait relations continued to pick up; during the turbulent period of Sino-US relations, cross-strait relations were relatively cold, and "US-Taiwan relations" were relatively cold. "It continues to recover.

In the 1990s, Sino-US diplomacy reached a low point, and the Taiwan independence forces represented by Lee Teng-hui took the opportunity to blatantly plot "Taiwan independence." Later, Sino-US relations steadily improved, and cross-Strait relations made major progress in postal, shipping, and trade relations. "Taiwan-U.S. relations" have always operated within the larger framework of China-U.S. relations. This time the United States is advocating mutual visits between Taiwan and the US warships. When analyzed in the context of the larger world structure, the mainland's comprehensive national power is growing day by day and its influence in the world is becoming more prominent. The United States has to seek China on certain international issues. cooperation and support, and therefore intends to blackmail China by playing the "Taiwan card."

Diplomacy is always based on comprehensive national strength. Mainland China has strong consumption power and a vast market. Coupled with the continued efforts of policies such as reform and opening up, the Chinese mainland economy has already become a new engine of the world economy. At present, China and the United States are two major countries cooperating in many fields such as economy and culture. We are among you, and you are among us. According to Xinhuanet, in 2016, the number of two-way tourism between China and the United States alone exceeded 5 million, with an average of 14,000 people traveling between the two sides of the Pacific every day. The bilateral trade volume between China and the United States has exceeded 500 billion US dollars. Once Sino-US relations deteriorate, Trump , who is a businessman, should know what it means to the United States and what it means to Sino-US relations, and he should be able to settle this account clearly.

As for the Taiwan authorities, they should not be too optimistic about mutual visits by warships and placing their hope in the United States. After all, the "assessment" proposed in the warship exchange bill is not "implementation", and the Taiwan authorities are obviously happy too early.

In addition, the Taiwan authorities must clearly realize that the United States is playing the "Taiwan card" to satisfy U.S. interests rather than to help Taiwan achieve "independence." On this point, Ye Wanghui, chairman of the pro-Taiwan Republican Party of Idaho, made it very clear earlier, "Taiwanese people make their own choices, and don't expect the United States to intervene to support them!" This is also true. Although the United States has strengthened military ties with Taiwan, it has never promised to "protect Taiwan."