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Taiwan’s top legislative leader, You Si-kun, is in Washington this week for meetings with top China critics in Congress, including former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, as the Biden administration prepares a $500 million fast-tracked arms package for the island in the face of growing aggression from China.
The $500 million is viewed as a down payment the U.S. plans to provide by the end of the year on a much larger promised $4.5 billion package the Biden administration has pledged to deliver over the next four years. Most of that money has been delayed, partly because of existing U.S. commitments to support Ukraine.
Through visits with key lawmakers, You Si-kun hopes to deepen economic and security ties with U.S. officials as worries grow about a potential invasion by China, which considers the thriving democracy part of its territory but has downplayed its territorial claims until President Xi Jinping renewed them in recent years.
The visit comes at a delicate time for the Biden administration. Last week, U.S. National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan met with his Chinese counterpart in Vienna for two days in what the White House deemed were “substantive and constructive” talks, a hopeful sign of easing tensions between Washington and Beijing.
China has responded to past visits between Washington and Taiwanese officials, including Pelosi’s visit to Taipei in August, by stepping up military drills around the island and unleashing a slew of retaliatory economic restrictions on Taiwan. Beijing also warned House Speaker Kevin McCarthy not to visit Taiwan after reports surfaced that he planned a trip there later this year. McCarthy met with Taiwan’s outgoing president Tsai Ing-wen in California in April but is not expected to have a face-to-face meeting with You this week.
You, a founding member of Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party in the 1980s, has served as president of its legislative body since 2020 and previously served as the island’s premier from 2002 to 2005 under President Chen Shui-bian.
You spoke with RealClearPolitics on Tuesday.
On Tuesday, you called on the United States to rely on the virtues of justice and mercy to guide its decision-making as Taiwan asks for continued military support against China’s aggression. You also talked about China posing a global threat, including to the West. What can you tell skeptics in the United States who ask why it’s in the U.S. self-interest to come to Taiwan’s aid if China were to invade?
We can see that over the [past] 10 years, the global democratic landscape is withering, with examples in Hong Kong, Afghanistan, Myanmar, and with the Russian aggression against Ukraine. According to the 2022 Freedom House report, the state of democracy in over 60 countries is declining.
