How Taiwan Should Make a Deal With Trump
It’s important to speak the language the new president understands. More business means more security.
Taiwan should talk to Trump in a language he understands: through business.
Photographer: I-Hwa Cheng/AFP/Getty Images
Taiwan has a simple mantra for dealing with a second Trump presidency: More business means more security. The island has already forged strong relationships with the incoming administration. To build on that success, it should encourage more American investment in local industries, and urge its own firms to do the same in the US. Its survival could depend on this strategy.
The self-ruled island has had to fight an existential battle with Beijing, which claims it as part of its own territory. President Xi Jinping has threatened to take Taiwan by force if necessary, but would rather “win without fighting,” a feature of the ancient Chinese general and military theorist Sun Tzu’s philosophy on how best to defeat an opponent. It has consistently squeezed the island’s military in the skies and seas, reportedly damaged undersea cables, and used its considerable economic influence to convince diplomatic partners to switch loyalties.