Taiwan Cheers Trump’s New Law, China Protests

Taiwan is thankful and China upset after a move by President Trump on Wednesday. He signed into law new rules regulating interactions between the United States and Taiwan. The Taiwan Assurance Implementation Act now requires the State Department to regularly review and update guidelines on interacting with Taiwan at least once every 5 years. Taiwan says the law stands as a firm symbol of the two countries shared values of democracy, freedom, and respect for human rights. The law has actually been in place since 2020, but the original only required guidelines to be reviewed once, not every 5 years. Taiwan's foreign minister says more frequent reviews will allow Taiwanese officials into US federal agencies for meetings. This upsets Beijing and opposes any form of official contact between the US and Taiwan. Beijing calls the island the Taiwan region of China and says the Taiwan question is the first red line that must not be crossed in China US relations. This isn't the first move of its kind by the US. In recent years, back in 2021, under the first Trump administration, then Secretary of State Mike Pompeo lifted restrictions on contacts between US officials and their Taiwanese counterparts. This reversed limits put in place after Washington recognized communist China half a century ago. Rick Fischer, senior fellow at the International Assessment and Strategy Center, says President Trump's move is an important step forward and that the United States needs to do more. Watch >> this is a a very important step forward. Uh, China, the Chinese Communist Party predicates its relationship with every country on earth on the basis of that country's acceptance of the Chinese Communist Party's right to invade and commit mass murder on the island democracy of Taiwan. uh it is it is uh simply unacceptable. It's it's it's inhumane and and violates so many uh American uh founding principles and and uh are are you the the heart of our democratic culture. Taiwan is in for all practical purposes a country. Legally speaking, the United States treats Taiwan as a country, but it does not confer formal diplomatic recognition. Uh because the United States took took the lead early on in surrendering its freedom to have its own relationship with Taiwan. All other countries have followed our example. We need to set the example now of conveying to the Chinese Communist Party that they have no right to invade and murder people on Taiwan and that the United States and indeed every other country on Earth has the right to fashion its own relationship as it sees fit with the people of Taiwan.