“I think the political fissures in Taiwan are very deep,” said Lyle Goldstein, director of the Asia Program at Defense Priorities. “The society, I would say, as a whole, is increasingly polarized there. The president, William Lai, his party has, in my view, suffered quite a few setbacks over the last year, and so this has kind of, I would say, kind of strengthened the hand and the will of the opposition, which is kind of, let’s say, feeling emboldened.”
Goldstein, of the Defense Priorities think tank, argued that it is inappropriate for U.S. lawmakers to tell Taiwanese officials what they need for their defense, as he would not expect Taiwan legislators to “tell Americans what may be for their defense.”
“I myself would argue that this is a debate internal to Taiwan,” he said in a Friday interview with The Hill. “It has a very powerful impact on Taiwan’s future, and I think we should trust the people of Taiwan to sort their way through this.
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