The delegation of three U.S. senators made a surprise three-hour visit to Taiwan on Sunday aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 Globemaster III freighter. They were received by Foreign Minister Joseph Wu and met with President Tsai Ing-wen at the airport, where they announced the donation of 750,000 doses of Covid-19 vaccine to Taiwan.

The 750,000 doses of vaccine would be a drop in the ocean for a 23-million-strong Taiwan, but the political and diplomatic implications are incredible, enough to be included in the history of Taiwan-U.S. relations and to provide a glimpse of Biden’s future cross-strait policy. This is a nightmare for Beijing, which was hoping that Biden would reverse the confrontational situation between the U.S. and China in the Trump era, but that no longer appears to be realistic.

1. Taiwan’s epidemic fighting and the “timely rain.” The recent aggressive rebound of the epidemic in Taiwan has led to international discussions about the breakdown of the “virus success story.” In addition, Taiwan has encountered a lot of resistance in accessing vaccines internationally, with many pharmaceutical companies either satisfying their domestic needs first, or not daring to sell to Taiwan for fear of offending Beijing. The vaccine donation announced by the U.S. senators, along with the first 1.24 million doses from Japan, which promised to donate a total of more than 30 million doses to Taiwan, is a much-needed boost that will strengthen Taiwanese perceptions of both countries and their confidence in forming alliances with them.

The actual impact in fighting against the epidemic is limited, but the political impact of a friend in need is a friend indeed is phenomenal. It is already no easy task for the U.S. to arrange a foreign visit by a congressman in the midst of a pandemic, and to deliver the vaccine that Tsai Ing-wen’s administration needs most now, is a strong show of support, thereby increasing Taiwan’s determination to be included in the U.S. Indo-Pacific strategy and reinforcing its public opinion base.

2. As the first batch of the 80 million doses of U.S. foreign aid, Taiwan is also the first recipient in the group to receive the vaccine. It is said that the three visiting senators and the White House had discussed the matter for several weeks before finally agreeing to send the vaccine to Taiwan. Therefore, the White House should have fully considered the impact on the U.S.-China relations and cross-strait relations before making the decision, and should have adequately assessed and prepared for Beijing’s possible strong reaction, and still decided to send the first batch of vaccines to Taiwan even after weighing the circumstances. This shows that Taiwan’s strategic position is so important that it has taken precedence over other countries or regions, and the fact that it was announced by U.S. senators in person in Taiwan is to highlight the distinction between U.S.-Taiwan relations from others.

By having senators make a special trip to deliver the gift, it is not only solemn, but also shows great respect for Taiwan. The fact that three heavyweight members of Congress were flown to Taiwan on a U.S. military transport plane, rather than a private jet as is generally the case, shows that this is a very unusual arrangement and is also intended to underscore Taiwan’s status.

3. During their visit to South Korea, the three U.S. senators boarded an American Air Force C-17 military transport plane at a U.S. base in Korea in the early morning hours. The C-17 Globemaster III freighter is the primary strategic lift aircraft for the U.S. military, with a maximum capacity of 77 tons and a range of more than 11,000 kilometers after aerial refueling. It is mainly used to transport heavy weapons and strategic cargo including the American main battle tank M1A2, and can carry more than a hundred fully armed American troops in one go.

Since the U.S. severed diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1979, there have been very few visits by American emblematic aircraft to Taiwan, not to mention in such a high profile. This is also the first time a C-17 transport plane has landed in Taiwan since it was commissioned in 1995, both testing Beijing and exerting pressure. In addition, in the editorial “A fundamental warning is needed for Tsai Ing-wen Administration” published by Global Times on August 31 last year, it was stated that, “If the island has made arrangements of take-offs and landings of U.S. military jets, it is crossing the Chinese mainland’s red line to safeguard national unity. This will be very serious,” and “If the mainland has conclusive evidence, it can destroy the relevant airport in the island and the U.S. military aircraft that land there - a war in the Taiwan Straits will thus begin.” Now that the primary strategic lift aircraft for the U.S. military has made a high profile landing in Taiwan, have the “red lines,” the “destroying U.S. military aircraft,” and the “war in the Taiwan Straits,” as mentioned by Global Times been realized?

In fact, the official media and mouthpieces of the mainland have kept a low profile on the visit of U.S. military aircraft to Taiwan, except for the Global Times which published an editorial, “Taiwan authorities take U.S. senators’ visit as a life-saving remedy.” According to the editorial, Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party (DDP) and the U.S. senators “are trying to provoke a strong reaction from the mainland at this time, creating a major crisis in the Taiwan Strait. It is really disgraceful that their political calculations have gone so far as to disregard epidemic prevention and human lives.” Its editor-in-chief, Hu Xijin, ridiculed the photo of the meeting between Tsai and the U.S. senators: “‘Governor Tsai’ stands to ‘report on her work’ while the U.S. senators sit and listen. This is such a hilarious sight that brings shame to the 23 million people of Taiwan.” The Global Times and Hu’s domineering spirit are gone, so it is no wonder that mainland netizens are not receptive, leaving comments like, “Isn’t this a trampling on our bottom line?” “The bottom line has been changed again and again? Increase the efforts to benefit Taiwan!”

4. U.S. Senator Christopher Coons, a close friend of Biden, was once a candidate for Secretary of State, then Biden appointed Antony Blinken, a former advisor and said he “needed Coons to stay in the Senate.” This visit to Taiwan by Coons and other senators is a sign that U.S.-Taiwan relations will continue to warm up during the Biden era, and that Biden attaches much more importance to Taiwan than was initially estimated.

From this we can see that these vaccines are far from being able to meet the needs of Taiwan, and it is necessary for the island to double its efforts, whether it is to prevent and combat the epidemic, or to develop its own vaccines. For those who only see that the U.S. donates too few vaccines, they are either ignorant or just anti-American to the point of being brainless.

(Poon Siu-to, veteran journalist)

This article is translated from Chinese by Apple Daily.

Click here for Chinese version

We invite you to join the conversation by submitting columns to our opinion section: [email protected]

Apple Daily reserves the right to refuse, abridge, alter or edit guest opinion columns for accuracy, length, clarity, and style, and the right to withdraw and withhold columns based on the discretion of our editorial page editors.

The opinions of the writers do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editorial board.

---------------------------------

Apple Daily’s all-new English Edition is now available on the mobile app: bit.ly/2yMMfQE

To download the latest version,

iOS: bit.ly/AD_iOS

Android: bit.ly/AD_android

Or search Appledaily in App Store or Google Play