he Wall Street Journal, a newspaper difficult to write off as “woke”, published a well-sourced essay warning that CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping remained intent on persuading the White House to explicitly state that the US did not favour Taiwan independence. Were such a statement to be made, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) would have witnessed a steep drop in its credibility as a force standing against unification of Taiwan with China. The DPP is pro-western, while the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) tilts towards China. The greater the confidence within the Taiwanese public that the US in particular would kinetically intervene on its side should Xi seek a unification by force, the more would the Taiwanese public come out in the open and express their opposition to becoming a part of China. Unlike in the case of its much larger neighbour, Taiwan is a freewheeling democracy, and the evening talk shows on Taiwanese television channels featuring fierce verbal sallies between the contending KMT and DPP sides are avidly watched by visitors from China, where the media portrays a single view, that approved by the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The process of anchoring itself to western stances has gone to the extent of foreign policy, where Taiwan has joined hands with South Korea and Japan to take the Ukrainian side in its ongoing conflict with the Russian Federation. Reports speak of President Trump putting on hold $400 million in military supplies to Taiwan in order to create a favourable climate for forthcoming trade talks between the US and China. If true, such a move would not strengthen the US position, but weaken it, encouraging CCP General Secretary Xi to ask for more concessions from the US.
Enter US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick, who in his previous occupation as a highly-compensated lobbyist is reported to have had several clients directly or indirectly linked to entities in the PRC and Hong Kong. It is known that among those strongly in favour of improving relations between China and the US is the Commerce Secretary. Earlier, while working in a company, the founder passed away and in order to step into his shoes, the flint-hearted Lutnick filed suit against the widow, alleging that she was mentally incompetent to hold such a position of responsibility that her late husband had. More recently, the Commerce Secretary has been in the news stating that Brazil and India should be “fixed” in order to open their markets to US produce. Clearly, Lutnick had no qualms about such entry into Brazilian and Indian markets even if doing so caused great hardship to millions in either country. Not that ease of market entry was the only factor for high tariffs imposed on Brazil. They are part of an effort by President Trump to ensure that former President Jair Bolsonaro be pardoned by President Luis Inacio Lula.
The President of the US has to function within the four corners of the US Constitution, which enshrine the Judiciary and the Legislature as co-equal of the Executive, which the President heads. President Trump just got a lesson in political reality when the US Congress failed to vote in favour of a short-term funding measure that would have kept all branches of the US Government (USG) functioning, instead of many being shut down, as is the case now. President Trump had already announced that he was not interested in negotiating with the Democrats, who were in a minority in both chambers of the Legislature. Now he calls the shutdown the fault of the Democratic Party, when the fact is that he could not persuade enough Republicans to vote for further increases on a bill that has already crossed three trillion in extra spending under Trump. For him, austerity is for the poor and the middle class, while unprecedented tax cuts have been given to the wealthy. Small wonder that his popularity is plummeting, even within his MAGA base. Getting anything other than major trade concessions from China and sharply trimming its export surplus to the US would annoy his base even more. Tilting at India or at Brazil is no compensation, for that too is guaranteed to cost him Indian-American and Latino support. Secretary Lutnick, you have been set an important responsibility by President Trump, and the need is to forget your old clients but concentrate on the entirety of the US citizenry as such. Please do not gladden the CCP leadership by looking at friends and allies of the US as foes and actual foes as friends.
