Forget Greenland, Acquire Taiwan

Forget Greenland, the Panama Canal and Canada--Trump Should Invite Taiwan to Become a U.S. Territory

By Joel D. Joseph

(Joseph represented sixty members of Congress challenging the constitutionality of the Panama Canal Treaty

Donald Trump's ambition to buy Greenland, take over the Panama Canal and add Canada as the 51st state are bound to fail. Greenland and Denmark said that they would not sell the island to the United States or to anyone else. Under the Panama Canal Treaty, Panama has sovereignty over the canal. Canada, with national health insurance and strict gun control laws, does not want to become part of the United States. However, a more important acquisition would be Taiwan. Guam, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico are all U.S. territories, and Taiwan could become one. Trump should invite Taiwan to become a U.S. territory and then the people of Taiwan could vote to accept or reject the invitation.

The Philippines was a U.S. territory from 1898 until 1946. The Philippines are 700 miles from Taiwan while Guam is 1700 miles away. Puerto Rico is one thousand miles from the mainland of the United States. Hawaii was a U.S. territory from 1898 until it became a state in 1959. In 1849, the United States and Hawaii concluded a treaty of friendship that served as the basis of official relations between the parties.

Taiwan is the world's largest producer of microchips. The United States is very dependent on this source of computer components. Microchips power computers, regulate automobile systems and are part of most modern electronic gadgets.

China, of course, will be upset with the U.S. inviting Taiwan to become a part of the United States. China will argue that we would be interfering with their "domestic" concerns. But Taiwan is a democratic nation and should be allowed to make its own independent decisions.

China, China, China

Of course, if Taiwan becomes a U.S. territory the United States would be bound to defend it. Every U.S. territory has major American military installations. The American Navy virtually controls the Island of Guam. There are also naval bases in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

A July, 2007 Congressional Research Service Report confirmed that U.S. policy has not recognized China's sovereignty over Taiwan. In 1979, China pressured the United States to end diplomatic relations with Taiwan. President Carter caved into massive Chinese pressure. In response, Congress passed the Taiwan Relations Act. The Peoples Republic of China continues to view the U.S. Taiwan Relations Act as "an unwarranted intrusion by the United States into the internal affairs of China." However, the United States has continued to supply Taiwan with aircraft and other weaponry and China has continued to protest. China has threatened to invade Taiwan, but has never done so.

American Military Bases

Pearl Harbor, a massive United States Naval facility, was attacked in 1941 before Hawaii became a state. In the Philippines, the United States had access to nine military bases. Some of these bases were formerly American bases, but now are controlled by the Philippine government. The United States gave the Philippines its independence in 1946 after 48 years as a territory.

U.S. territories have non-voting members in Congress. Residents of U.S. territories can easily gain American citizenship. Residents of the U.S. territories-- Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands -- are generally not required to pay federal income taxes on income whose source is within the territory.

Congress can establish the rules for admission of Taiwan as a U.S. territory. The law would include rules on citizenship, taxation, military bases, military service and other issues. If Taiwan were to become a U.S. territory, China would most likely not invade the island nation because such an invasion could start World War III. Similarly, if we had invited the Ukraine into NATO twenty years ago Russia would not have invaded. We should learn from the Ukraine War and pre-emptively invite Taiwan to become part of the United States.