By Peter Harris
Joe Biden was powerless to stop Nancy Pelosi from visiting Taiwan. But the President cannot allow Pelosi and others in Congress to set US foreign policy on such a critical issue. He must do everything in his power to minimize the risk of a disastrous clash between the United States and China.
How can Biden respect the legislature’s independence without abdicating the responsibilities of his office? One option is to use Pelosi’s trip as an opportunity to admit something that too few US leaders have been willing to say openly until now: that the country’s political and military establishment is split on the question of Taiwanese security.
Of course, no President of the United States would ordinarily want to admit that their country is disunited on important questions of international security. In this case, however, amplifying the perception that the US political system is fractured over Taiwan might be the best way that Biden can contribute to stability across the Strait.
This is because America’s longstanding – and sensible – policy of “strategic ambiguity” depends upon audiences in China and Taiwan being unsure of whether US forces would join a war over the island’s fate. If Pelosi is intent on creating the image of a tight US-Taiwan relationship, then strategic ambiguity will only survive if others can provide evidence to the contrary.
This piece was originally published in The Critic on August 3, 2022. Read more HERE.