Taiwan

2004-2022 | 18 years

In A Change is Gonna Come, former Vice President John Hoynes tries to recruit Josh Lyman for his Presidential campaign, meanwhile, President Bartlet’s MS causes him to accidentally take a Taiwanese flag, which puts relations with China into jeopardy.

Speaker of the House Pelosi is currently on a trip to Taiwan that was strongly condemned by China, similar to how China condemned President Bartlet’s acceptance of the Taiwanese flag. While in The West Wing, after people in Taiwan started independence riots, the People’s Liberation Army deployed subs. In the real world, Chinese warplanes have already gone as far as the median line, and China has announced that later this week they will be conducting live-fire military drills in the air and at sea around Taiwan.

President Bartlet accepted the flag by accident, meanwhile, Pelosi chose to go on the trip. President Bartlet returned the flag and kept Senator Hunt off the floor, however, it is not as simple to walk back a whole international trip.

On the other side, many people in The West Wing are in favor of giving Taiwan heavier support. The most obvious example is Senator Hunt, who pushed back on the President’s agenda and even wanted to float a resolution for the President to display the flag he received in the state department lobby. Josh also wants to show Taiwan some support, as he pushes for the White House to not interfere and let Hunt take the Senate floor.

In the end, Josh is ordered to stop Hunt from taking the floor, but in this episode, more than others, it seems that there is a struggle internally between senior staff about what is truly the right thing to do.

Leo shows the counter to supporting Taiwan when C.J. expresses her hesitations about letting China push them around, posing the question, “You'd rather we were snarling at each other, and keeping one eye fixed on the nuclear launch codes?”

Any serious conversation about Taiwan always seems to circle back to this. We could support Taiwan’s freedom, but it would come at a cost. The problem is that the cost would be unknown.

Many have hoped that China would observe Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and become less enticed to try to take over Taiwan, however, the situations are very different. While Russia is fighting a land battle over an established internationally recognized country, an invasion of Taiwan would be a Sea battle, and the US and UN do not recognize Taiwan. Not to mention Russia and China have different militaries.

The moral of World War One seemed clear, you shouldn’t jump into something too quickly because it could lead to unnecessary harm. However, the moral of World War Two seems oxymoronic to that of World War One, warning not to stand back when there is a bully because it could make things worse.

We don’t know what could happen if the US changes its stance on Taiwan, that’s what makes the issue so delicate. When dealing with the Issue, American idealism comes into conflict with reality. What the people we empower choose to do will affect us, and leave us an issue more complex than before.