The Call

Beijing doesn’t see the irony in the fact that when Xi met Ma in Singapore last year, the Chinese president was practically accepting that “one China” as a common goal was as good as dead.

While punishing Taiwan may be Beijing’s proximate aim, China may also hope to convince the Trump administration that closer engagement with Taipei isn’t in their interests, as this will inevitably lead to renewed instability in the Taiwan Strait, argues J. Michael Cole