THE STAR BUSINESSWEEK JUNE 23, 2018
WWW.STLUCIASTAR.COM
US-China: Why Taiwan is back on the agenda
AN AMERICAN WORLD CUP A CARIBBEAN OPPORTUNITY? BY ED KENNEDY, STAR BUSINESSWEEK CORRESPONDENT
Right now is a major time in the world of football, aka soccer (and hereafter called football to keep fans of ‘the beautiful game’ happy). This past week has seen the Caribbean family following the 2018 World Cup in Russia, looking to cheer on neighbours across the Caribbean Sea in Panama, Mexico and Colombia, alongside admiring the giants of the game like Brazil, Argentina and Germany.
A US Senate delegation visiting Beijing in March expected its conversations with Chinese officials to be dominated by talk of a trade war between the two countries and President Donald Trump’s plans to meet North Korean ruler Kim Jong Un.
The then Taiwan leader Ma Ying-jeou (left) and Xi Jinping, China’s president, at a November 2015 Summit seen as a milestone in thawing relations between the two neighbours
Instead the five-member delegation — visiting on the same day that Mr Kim was in the Chinese capital — received an earbashing from Chinese officials seething over Taiwan.
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Since the 2016 election of Tsai Ing-wen (above) as Taiwan’s president, relations with China have deteriorated Page 3