Rep. Aumua Amata, the Republican delegate for the U.S. House of Representatives from American Samoa, said changes to Taiwan's self-determination would have broad consequences.
“The self-determination of the people of Taiwan, including their indigenous Pacific Islander population of hundreds of thousands, must be the priority in diplomacy and policy considerations,” Amata told State Newswire. “Any changes to the status quo would have serious effects throughout the Pacific, where there is already a growing awareness that the major powers are paying more attention to the region.”
Amata was responding to “'Reunification' with Taiwan through Force Would Be a Pyrrhic Victory for China," published Nov. 22 by the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) and authored by Jude Blanchette, Freeman Chair in China Studies at CSIS and Gerard DiPippo, Senior Fellow of the Economics Program at CSIS. The report argues that too much of the current discussion on China's possible invasion of Taiwan focuses on when or how it could occur, and hasn't considered the nonmilitary consequences to China and for the world.
"This brief explores the implications of a Chinese attack on Taiwan based on reasonable, albeit speculative, assumptions," the report states in its synopsis.
The report states that if China were to use direct lethal force to defeat Taiwan's army and depose its existing civilian leadership, Beijing would face potentially severe costs, both directly and indirectly. The report assumes that China would not use nuclear weapons and that U.S. military forces would engage in a limited intervention that would not ultimately defeat China. If China succeeds in “reunification” with Taiwan through forceful means, Beijing will sacrifice progress toward becoming a global superpower.
The report states that China would be met with economic repercussions that would restrict China's ability to import and export goods. Invading Taiwan would also likely harm the value of Chinese currency, China’s domestic markets, and business sentiment toward China, according to the report. The report states that “meaningful” intervention by the U.S. military would drastically increase the costs incurred by China and notes that the military conflict would most likely take place close to China’s “most economically important and populated provinces.” If successful, Chinese forces will be occupying an island with “a hostile population” and “a shattered local economy, including its semiconductor sector."
The Taiwan Relations Act, enacted in 1979, asserts that the U.S. aims to maintain peaceful trade and cultural relations with both Taiwan and China, but specifies that “the United States shall provide Taiwan with arms of a defensive character and shall maintain the capacity of the United States to resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardize the security, or social or economic system, of the people of Taiwan,” according to the Congressional Record.
Amata is the first Republican woman to represent American Samoa in Congress, according to her website. Amata, who was first elected in 2014, is Vice Ranking Member of the House Veterans Affairs Committee. She is also a member of the House Natural Resources Committee.
