Making America Great Again and Taiwan’s Crucial Choice

If he wants to ruin a person, God must first drive him crazy. Looking at all that Donald Trump has done, we might say that if God wants to ruin a nation, he has to first drive the leader crazy.

Mainstream media around the world are predicting that Trump will make China great again, and that tariffs are a gift to Xi Jinping. The countries that currently want to reconcile with China may outnumber the countries that want to bend the knee to Trump, and America’s Western allies are among them.

Why does Trump want to push his tariff policy forward so boldly? Because you can only resolve economic and financial issues first. Bankruptcy finishes everything — something Trump is very clear about, having gone bankrupt himself. From a certain angle, this is more of a political issue. As long as he can create jobs and bring manufacturing back to the U.S., he can get votes. Even if his policies are unsuccessful in the end, he can place the blame on someone else.

The most important thing for Trump is to maintain a firm grip on his position. This is similar to how Xi must consolidate power before he can make necessary reforms. How can it not be the same for Taiwan? Trump deeply understands politics. As long as he can control his base he can succeed and doesn’t need to please everyone.

Trump’s philosophy is simple but crude, irrational yet effective. The problem is that no one can exceed their authority the way he can. He has limited time and energy — the same problem Elon Musk faces. Therefore, he will be exceedingly busy in the future. Sooner or later, Trump will make a mistake, step on a landmine, offend the wrong person and get involved in a fight he should not have.

The Russia-Ukraine war is an example of a situation that Trump misjudged. When he claimed he had wonderful relationships with Vladimir Putin and Xi, he had already revealed his bottom line. He wanted to make a deal so badly that he was at a disadvantage and Vladimir Putin duly took advantage of him. If Xi handles Trump by adopting a wait-and-see strategy and bides his time, he will eventually find the right opportunity to attempt reunification with Taiwan.

The U.S. has forced Taiwanese companies to invest in America and is pressuring Taiwan to arm itself. However, many signs indicate that some of what we are doing is not necessarily correct. Because we will never doubt our leaders, the problem is with us. Trump’s policies are helping awaken many Taiwanese people. Still, if you have been deeply hypnotized, you may never wake up.

Compared with China, Taiwan is already at a disadvantage, technologically and economically speaking, not to mention militarily. When Chinese Communist Party drones fill the skies and Taiwan’s energy reserves are blocked, no matter how heroic the “Black Bear” special forces are, asymmetric warfare will be impossible. Things may be over before they begin.

Last year, Taiwan spent over $3 million to film “Zero Day,” a television show about the CCP attacking Taiwan. Why hasn’t it aired yet? Possibly because some of the details in it are already unrealistic. Mainland China has recently been performing increasingly close military exercises. Frankly speaking, this is no different than Israel’s siege of Gaza. Although China probably wants to prove it can take over Taiwan any time it wants, the two sides of the strait should not travel down this road.

Trump is determined to move Taiwan’s most valuable resources, like semiconductors and AI servers, to the U.S. Once Taiwan loses its silicone shield, there won’t be a reunification by military force, only a sort of “no unification” in which both sides move toward a kind of outward cooperation, or “friendly harmony.” This is like an old couple: Whether they are still in love doesn’t matter anymore; as long as they are together on the surface, it’s enough.

In a future meeting between Trump and Xi, Trump will lay out conditions, and Xi might accept them. But Xi will want Trump to declare where he stands on the Taiwan issue. The U.S. and China will decide Taiwan’s fate together.

The value of Taiwan’s democracy is the power of its checks and balances — a value that the U.S. is slowly losing. Absolute power will bring benefits and create risk-free arbitrage. Even if there is sweeping change in the future, Trump has already offered $5 million gold card visas to the world. Some people are destined to go to the U.S., while regular people can only stay in Taiwan to live and die together.

“American Pie” is a classic American song from 50 years ago that tells of the decline of America’s glorious age, which once gone is lost forever. New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman recently published an article titled, “I Just Saw the Future. It Was Not in America.” It is one of the few calm and rational commentaries out there. Now is the critical time to say goodbye to the old Taiwan and start a new chapter. God bless Taiwan!

The author is the founding chairman of Taiwan Mergers & Acquisitions and Private Equity Council and the founder of the Southeast-Asia Impact Alliance.