Trump cabinet picks delight Taiwan, send strong signal to China

KAOHSIUNG, Taiwan – President-elect Donald Trump’s nominees to serve as United Nations ambassador, national security adviser, and most importantly, secretary of state are regarded by many as “China Hawks.” 

Their appointments are being mostly welcomed in Taiwan, even by some who did not support the former and future president.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., likely to be tapped to become Trump’s chief diplomat, made his position clear during the Republican National Convention in mid-July, when he said that he expected a re-elected Trump to, “continue to do what he did in his first term and that is … continue to support Taiwan.” Rubio, however, has been in lockstep with Trump on insisting Taiwan increase defense spending, a view shared by security experts, but not necessarily the majority of Taiwanese people. 

As of yet, no official statement has come from Taiwanese President William Lai, but in 2019, when Lai was vice president to then-President Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs offered its gratitude to Sen. Rubio and former Sen. Cory Gardner, R-Colo., for rejecting Chinese President Xi Jinping’s proposal (or demand) that Taiwan accept “one country, two systems.” 

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This same formula was supposed to apply to Hong Kong for 50 years after the handover in 1997 but lasted only until roughly 2020, when China imposed draconian new laws. Today, people in Hong Kong can be jailed for non-violent acts of protest, such as wearing a shirt with the words “Liberate Hong Kong.” An overwhelming majority in Taiwan reject China’s “one country, two systems,” and any other plan that gives authoritarian China control of democratic Taiwan. 

Rubio is blunt on China, writing on X, for example, “Communist China is not, and will never be, a friend to democratic nations.” In…