A visit to Taiwan by a U.S. Cabinet secretary. A sale of advanced torpedoes. Talk of starting negotiations over a potential trade agreement.
The Trump administration has taken action in recent weeks to strengthen U.S. relations with the democratic island of Taiwan and bolster its international standing. The efforts are aimed at highlighting a thriving democracy in Asia and countering China’s attempts to weaken the global diplomatic status of Taiwan, which Beijing claims as its territory.
That feeds into a bigger campaign by national security officials: to set the United States on a long-term course of competition and confrontation with China that any U.S. president, Democratic or Republican, will find difficult to veer away from in the future.