CONTEMPORARY U.S. TAIWAN POLICY: BALANCING ON THE EDGE

The article highlights and analyzes the changes brought by the Trump and Biden administrations to the U. S. Taiwan policy. The driving forces behind the introduced changes to this policy, according to the article, were the rise of China and the changing military balance in the Taiwan Strait, Beijing's growing diplomatic, military and economic pressure on Taipei since 2016, Taiwan's political transformation and the rise of a distinct Taiwanese identity, an overall escalation of tensions between China and Taiwan, as well as a reassessment of the American approach towards the PRC in favor of pursuing a containment policy. The author characterizes the U.S. activities in the Taiwan issue under the Trump and Biden administrations as "salami" tactics - taking small, non-military or quasi-military steps, each of which remains below the threshold of military response on the part of China, but ultimately brings to the desired goal - to increase the overall level of support of Taiwan and its defense capabilities in the event of the PRC's military operation. Among such small steps by Washington, in particular, there are the public reference of to the 1982 Six Assurances as one of the pillars of the "One China" policy (in addition to the Taiwan Relations Act and the three U.S.-China communiqu & eacute;s), increasing the intensity and the level of contacts between American officials and their Taiwanese counterparts, deepening military cooperation and especially increasing the number of American troops in Taiwan, creating multilateral platforms for interaction between Taiwan and a wide range of countries, involving American allies in ensuring security in the Taiwan Strait, etc. Each of these steps individually does not allow us to talk about significant changes in Washington's approach to the Taiwan issue, but taken together they form a critical mass, indicating serious shifts in the American recognition of Taiwan's role.