With a historic trade agreement with Taiwan… Why does Washington charge Beijing’s nerves?

An expert on Chinese affairs enumerates China’s options to respond to the new American move, which included the military option.

Details of the new trade agreement

• On Thursday, Washington announced that it would sign a historic trade agreement with the island of Taiwan.
• The Taipei Trade Negotiation Office said the first set of such agreements was prepared under the “US-Taiwan Trade Initiative in the 21st Century” and will be signed in Washington.
• The agreement contributes to increasing trade between Washington and Taipei, by coordinating customs controls and regulatory procedures and establishing anti-corruption measures.
• For Taiwan, this trade agreement is the “most comprehensive” signed with the United States since 1979, while linking the two countries as a “framework” for investment since 1994.

China considers the island of Taiwan one of its provinces, and rejects any direct foreign relations with it, and accuses any country that violates that of violating the principle of “one China”, being hostile to Beijing, and accusing Washington in particular of supporting “separatist” endeavors on the island.

How will China respond?

An expert on Chinese affairs and a member of the Asian Affairs Committee of the Egyptian Council for Foreign Affairs, Diaa Helmy, raises several possibilities for the Chinese response, especially since Beijing will not give up on the principle of “one China”:

• It will put economic, commercial and industrial pressure on Taiwan.
• If America intervenes by supporting Taiwan militarily, or incursions into the South China Sea, or near the island of Taiwan, China will respond militarily as well, and Washington will be treated according to the principle of reciprocity, as happened when an American plane provocatively overtook the Chinese sky, then it was immediately attacked by a Chinese plane in a position attacks.

In Helmi’s estimation, Washington “wants to involve China in a war to destroy its economy and development, sacrificing the people of Taiwan and the country’s economy in order to achieve this.”

Officially, on Thursday, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning commented during a press briefing that the United States “should not send wrong signals to the Taiwanese independence forces in the name of trade.”

accusation of “provocation”

This week was fraught with an exchange of accusations between Washington and Beijing that each of them was taking “provocative” steps towards the other.

On Thursday, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin told reporters during a visit to Tokyo that he “regretted” his Chinese counterpart Li Shangfu’s refusal to meet with him this week, predicting an accident that “could quickly get out of control” after Chinese fighter jets flew out on Friday. What he described as “provocative interceptions” of a US military reconnaissance plane over the South China Sea.

For its part, Beijing contented itself with saying through its spokeswoman that “the United States clearly knows the reason for the current difficulties in military communications.”

Earlier, the Chinese Foreign Ministry denounced what it described as the US’ “provocative and dangerous maneuvers”, which it considered “a source of problems for maritime security.”

The US military had announced that “a Chinese pilot flying a J-16 fighter performed an unnecessary aggressive maneuver while intercepting a US Air Force RC-135 on May 26” operating over the South China Sea.

She added, “The Chinese pilot flew directly in front of the front of the American plane, forcing it to fly into turbulence.”