US academic wrong about TaiwanBy Gerrit van der WeesOn Monday, the New York Times published an analysis piece by Stanford University academic Oriana Skylar Mastro, titled “This is what America is getting wrong about China and Taiwan.”Regrettably, Skylar Mastro herself got some fundamentals wrong. Skylar Mastro is right that a delicate balance of deterrence and reassurance has been upset, but her solution of “easing China’s concerns” is headed in the wrong direction. One other important aspect is that Skylar Mastro presents her case as if the US and China can decide the fate of Taiwan between themselves only. A Taiwan controlled by China would represent an undesired sea change for those countries. Beijing needs to accept Taiwan as it is, and the international community needs to work harder to bring Taiwan into the family of nations, from which it has been excluded unfairly and unjustly.
