CCP pressure on Taiwan forms an interlocking web of coercion that demands pushback from the international community.

The News Lens
Date: 2018/06/20
By: Russell Hsiao

Reuters / TPG

China has significantly ramped up pressure on Taiwan since Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) was democratically-elected as the country’s president in January 2016. As Beijing’s external pressure on Taiwan grows, pressure for action is building on the Tsai administration, both from the opposition as well as from within her own party. The confluence of these factors will make it harder for the Tsai to sustain her administration’s pragmatic efforts to maintain the “status quo” in cross-Strait relations without greater international support.

As the United States and its partners weigh their response to Beijing’s intimidation and coercion, it is important to unpack Beijing’s intensifying pressure campaign and examine its constituent parts, if only to appreciate the astonishing range of ways Beijing has sought to pressure Taiwan following Tsai’s ascension to the presidency. Most analyses focus only on one or several aspects; but they must be considered in the aggregate, to better formulate a proportionate response.

China’s pressure campaign on Taiwan includes 10 elements which are, generally speaking, meant to interact with and reinforce each other. Some are new, some are not. Most of those that are not new have seen intensified application in the past two years. These elements are: poaching Taiwan’s diplomatic allies; military coercion; economic coercion; excluding Taiwan from international organizations; pressuring foreign corporations; pressuring Taiwan’s non-diplomatic allies; economic incentives; political warfare; cyber espionage; and traditional espionage.    [FULL  STORY]