President Tsai Ingwen strives to continue to seek the support and recognition of the international community for Taiwan's independence. However, China considers that Taiwan is part of its country that acts in rebellion and wants to break away. That is why it is possible if there is an open conflict and then China has several times given verbal warnings or carried out military provocations in Taiwan's airspace.
For offensive realist thinkers, states maximize the power, influence, and wealth on which military power is based in order to occupy a safer position in a world of anarchy. The best way for a country to increase its chances of survival is to become a super power because a country with more power is safer than a country with less power.
The publication of the white paper entitled "Taiwan Questions and China's Reunification in the New Era" by the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council and the Information Office of the State Council of the People's Republic of China reaffirms the fact that Taiwan is part of China. This book is also published to demonstrate the determination of the Chinese Communist Party (CPC) and the Chinese people and their commitment to national reunification, and to emphasize the position and policies of the CPC and the Chinese government in the new era.
In early August 2022, international political turmoil based on this conflict returned to the surface because Nancy Pelosi as the Speaker of the United States House of Representatives paid a visit to Taiwan. Viewed from the concept of national interest, the purpose of Nancy Pelosi's visit to Taiwan is to bring the United States closer to Taiwan. This can be seen from the presence of Taiwan, which is close to the South China Sea, which is very strategic for the United States' trade route to the Indo-Pacific region. The ideological similarities also make Taiwan side with western ideology in implementing its democratic system.
Taiwan has a fairly large economic potential. Taiwan is one of the countries that has strong economic growth and resilience in the East Asia region. This is also the reason the United States and China exert influence on each other in Taiwan, especially the role of the United States in the Taiwanese economy. Losing Taiwan to China will potentially affect their domestic stability (Dewi & Utami Dewi, 2019). Taiwan is also one of the largest seafood exporters, home to the largest fleet of longline tuna fishing vessels.
The existence of Taiwan for Indonesia and of course also for the region is related to global supply chains and shipping routes for Indonesian export transportation. Global supply chains make some of Indonesia's export commodities sent to other countries for processing.Â
Furthermore, the processed products are sent by Taiwan and surrounding countries (Muhamad, 2009). The development of tensions that occur will have a negative impact on the region, including Indonesia, which has an economic interest in Taiwan. While China and Taiwan have links to traditional export destinations.
In addition, the conflict between China and Taiwan is apparently considered to have a serious impact on the territorial waters of the South China Sea (SCS). There are three important factors that cause conflicts of interest, namely economic, strategic and political. These three factors are the main motives for claimant states to defend their rights in the SCS area. The countries that are claimant states for the Spratly islands include Brunei, China, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam. In addition, the last two countries also demanded ownership of the Paracels which have been under Chinese control since 1974 (Kompasiana, 2013).
There are about 125 large rivers into the South China Sea which contribute to the high level of productivity of these waters. The world's coral reef commodities are around the waters of the South China Sea. Apart from the wealth of natural resources owned by the South China Sea, a group of islands has also become a bone of contention because of its strategic position.
Because this area involves sovereignty, politics and the military as well as economics, its settlement in the Post-Cold War and contemporary era is not easy. The presence of multilateral forums seeks to take steps to deal with it, for example through ASEAN and also APEC. But China has so far wanted a bilateral solution to the conflict in the South China Sea.
ASEAN's efforts In 1971 achieved success in institutionalizing Southeast Asia as a security area, in the momentum of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs who signed the Declaration on the zone of peace, freedom and neutrality (ZOPFAN).
