Bolton's New Book Exposes Trump's Attitude on Taiwan, Cross-Strait Power Disparity
China Times, June 19, 2020
As the power struggle between the United States and China escalates and with the U.S. presidential election approaching, former White House National Security Advisor John Bolton’s new book dropped a bombshell by exposing many inside stories about President Donald Trump’s foreign policy-making.
Bolton claims that Trump “pleaded” with Chinese President Xi Jinping to purchase more American agricultural products in order to help him win the re-election battle. Bolton also said in his book that Trump used the “tip of a pen” and a “desk” to describe the disparity in strength between Taiwan and China, and even stated that he is “particularly dyspeptic towards Taiwan.”
U.S.-China Trade Negotiations: Straight-forward Deals
Recently, the U.S. media has been publishing content on Bolton’s book The Room Where It Happened, which is set to release on June 23. According to the New York Times, Bolton claims that in the process of trade negotiations, Trump and Xi made “straight-forward deals”. On December 1, 2018, Trump and Xi met at the G20 Buenos Aires Summit in Argentina. Bolton writes that Xi said during dinner that he hoped to cooperate with Trump for another six years and Trump nodded in agreement. Xi then urged Trump to cancel the tariffs imposed on Chinese products, which are worth hundreds of billions of dollars. Trump promised on the spot with the sole request that China purchases more of U.S. agricultural products in order for Trump to win votes from key farm states.
Trump Friendly With Xi But Full of Self-Interest and Political Calculations
On June 29, 2019, at the G20 Osaka Summit, Trump praised Xi as "the greatest Chinese leader in 300 years”. A few moments later, Trump upgraded his praise by saying Xi is “the greatest leader in the history of China”. Trump then changed the subject to the 2020 U.S. presidential election, and hoped that China could buy more agricultural products, which would help his re-election.
The book also mentions that U.S. officials have demanded multiple times to heavily punish the two Chinese telecommunications equipment giants, ZTE and Huawei, for violating the U.S. sanctions on Iran. However, President Trump chose to overturn his officials’ decisions and befriended Xi. Bolton accuses Trump of making national security decisions based on self-interest and political calculations.
Bolton, who has always been friendly to Taiwan, also says that after President Trump found out that Wall Street financiers made a fortune in China, Trump stated that he is particularly dyspeptic about Taiwan. Furthermore, it appears that on several occasions, Trump pointed at the tip of his pen and said “This is Taiwan,” and then pointed at the Oval Office desk and said “This is China.” Bolton writes, “That pretty much sums up the promises and obligations that the United States has for its democratic allies.”
Evidence for impeachment, Trump’s administration blocks book release
On June 17, the U.S. Department of Justice applied to the court for an emergency injunction on the grounds of national security to prevent the publication of Bolton’s book. Publishing company Simon & Schuster said that the new book has already been published worldwide, and the political actions in Washington are only in vain. CNN commented on Bolton’s statements that the many actions taken by President Trump can validate his impeachment. However, previously when the Congress held the impeachment investigation hearing against Trump on the Ukraine scandal, Bolton did not come forward to testify, which makes his action equivalent to betraying the county.
With regard to recent developments, former Kuomintang (KMT) Legislator Lin Yu-fang indicated that there have always been competition and cooperation between superpowers. So far, Taiwan has only been able to see the power struggle between China and the United States on the surface level, and pretended not to see their reconciliation under the table. Lin said: “Taiwan should not be blinded by pretty words. We need to admit that international politics is all about who has the bigger fist. Whoever has the stronger overall national strength has the most influence.”
According to Associate Professor Li Ta-chung of Tamkang University Graduate Institute of Strategic Studies, Bolton’s new book only proves that Taiwan’s foreign policy should follow the “Taiwan first” principle. Taiwan’s focal point should be to discern the impact that the current complicated U.S.-China relations has on Taiwan and how to gain and not lose in this situation.
From: https://www.chinatimes.com/newspapers/20200619000488-260119?chdtv