In a rare show of bipartisanship, Senators Robert Menendez (D-NJ) and John Cornyn (R-Tx) jointly introduced legislation demanding that the administration sell F-16s to Taiwan.
In Asia, gifts matter. Consider the gift exchange during the recent high-level chat between Taiwan’s new president Ma Ying-jeou and Chen Yunlin. Chen is the chairman of the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait (ARATS), Beijing’s primary negotiation body with Taiwan. He recently went to Taipei for five intensive days as the highest profile mainland visitor in the last 60 years. Although Chen only met Ma for a brief talk, they did manage to exchange gifts. President Ma gave Chen a fine porcelain ornament. Porcelain, a key symbol of Chinese culture, is also known as china. Ma’s gift, then, can be interpreted as a sign of the "One China" consensus because what he gave Chen was one "china." Indeed, under the framework of the "1992 consensus," which allows both parties to interpret the term "one China" differently, Beijing and Taipei are willing to promote their bilateral relationship while remaining ambiguous about more sensitive issues.