‘Taiwan Divided On How To Meet China Challenge; 2024 Poll Will Be Key’

NEW DELHI: To the rest of the world, relations between China and Taiwan are best described as frayed, with China seen as the aggressor waiting to invade Taiwan. But Fu-Kuo Liu, Director of Taiwan Center for Security Studies, offers a different perspective to the crisis faced by the tiny island nation that is heavily dependent on China for trade. The two economies are closely connected and until Beijing considers Taiwan has not crossed a red line, there can be common ground, he told StratNews Global Editor-in-Chief Nitin A. Gokhale in an online chat that is part of a special series called ‘Borderline Xi’. Pointing to two recent visits—one by former Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou to China, which was conciliatory, and other by current President Tsai Ing-wen to the U.S., which has riled Beijing—Liu said opinion is divided in Taiwan on how to deal with the China challenge and that an intense political debate is underway, which is why the outcome of the Taiwanese presidential poll due in January next year will be critical. Tune in for more.