OPINION:
The good news is that the communists who run the slaving, genocidal regime in China are, like collectivists everywhere, pretty straightforward and transparent about their goals.
The bad news is that whether the collectivists in question reside in Moscow or Beijing or New York, Americans have trouble believing what their ears hear and what their eyes see.
In this instance, the regime in Beijing spent the entire first day of President Trump’s China visit making it as clear as possible that if and when it invades Taiwan, it doesn’t want (and won’t tolerate) any American interference.
Indeed, the Chinese government was as direct as it could be. The summary of the initial meeting between Chairman Xi Jinping and Mr. Trump emphasized that Mr. Xi “stressed to President Trump that the Taiwan question is the most important issue in China-U.S. relations. … If it is handled properly, the bilateral relationship will enjoy overall stability. Otherwise, the two countries will have clashes and even conflicts, putting the entire relationship in great jeopardy.”
That is about as straightforward as the usually inscrutable Chinese get. The message is clear: Trade is great and we care about it, but really, we are focused on taking Taiwan and you need to let that happen.
The Americans put out the usual weak sauce about expanding market access and increasing investment, and all the other failed ideas that have characterized successive American governments’ attempts to slow the predatory roll of China.
Just in case the Americans missed the first warning about Taiwan (on a day that began at Tiananmen Square of all places), Mr. Xi took a moment to circle back around to Taiwan, telling Mr. Trump to beware the “Thucydides Trap.”
That is the name Graham Allison, a professor at Harvard, gave to the idea that established powers (in this case, the U.S.) tend to come into military conflict with rising powers (presumably, in this case, China).
Mr. Xi likes to toss around that image. He offered the same warning to Presidents Obama and Biden. This time, with the context being Taiwan, the vibe was very different.
According to Politico, Steve Bannon interpreted the remark as a brushback pitch to Mr. Trump, a warning that defending Taiwan could lead to armed conflict.
The American approach to Taiwan has been one of strategic ambiguity, a posture that allows all people to believe all things about any specific situation. We are probably beyond that at this point.
The history of war between nations is a history of misguided assumptions and inaccurate beliefs about who is willing to fight when and over what. Clarity about the expectations of both sides and each potential adversary’s willingness to fight is essential.
If the United States is willing to defend Taiwan, should we be asked, we need to be clear about that. Resolve on the part of one’s potential enemy is an important deterrence.
The regime in Beijing — which multiple American presidential administrations have concluded engages in slavery and genocide and yet which we still treat like any other set of leaders — cannot be allowed to bully its way across the first island chain. It cannot be allowed to expropriate our intellectual property. It cannot hold Jimmy Lai in bondage because he had the temerity to be rich, to publish the truth in his newspaper and to practice his Catholic faith.
Finally, decisions about what happens in Taiwan need to be made by the Taiwanese, not the People’s Liberation Army.
The war described by Thucydides in the “History of the Peloponnesian War” was a conflict born from a contest of political systems and cultural values. So, too, is our current contest with respect to communist China. We need to get serious about winning it.
• Michael McKenna is a contributing editor at The Washington Times.
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