Governor's island visit has harmed interests of farmers in Indiana
By Zhang Zhouxiang | China Daily | Updated: 2022-08-24 07:44
Nothing could be more "silly" than the recent visit by Eric Holcomb, governor of Indiana state in the United States, to China's Taiwan.
In terms of diplomacy, he has invited big trouble for his country. Taiwan is an inalienable part of China, and any US official's visit there is detrimental to bilateral ties. The visit by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi further harmed China-US relations.
Now Holcomb, with his action, has done the same. The US cannot expect to gain anything from his visit to the island, other than China's anger. He has surely harmed his country's interests.
There can only be one reason why he chose to harm his country, namely for his own political interests. He did not admit it, but with the midterm elections approaching in the US, Holcomb, a Republican governor, seems to be competing with his Democrat challengers on who can seem to take a tougher line against China.
By visiting Taiwan, Holcomb is actually trying to hype up the "China threat theory" and rally more votes for his party, but at the cost of his country.
For people in his state, Holcomb is failing in his duty of protecting their interests and abusing his power to hurt their interests instead. When the previous US administration launched trade frictions with China in 2018, Indiana soybean farmers suddenly found that they could not export a huge portion of their agricultural products to China, which had turned to Brazil. As a result, the farmers in Indiana got "stuck in the middle", as total exports to China dropped from $3.1 billion in 2017 to $2.2 billion in 2018, triggering a wave of protests.
Now, with Holcomb's visit to Taiwan, the state might expect its trade volume with China to dip further, harming local farmers and industrial workers the most.
Governor Holcomb did not take any of them into confidence before planning his Taiwan visit. He was only trying to make a gesture and follow the vicious trend among certain US politicians, but his country, his state, and its people will end up paying the price. Will he pay for his deeds himself, instead of expecting Indiana's farmers to?
