{"id":3347,"date":"2019-03-26T13:45:34","date_gmt":"2019-03-26T13:45:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/?p=3347"},"modified":"2019-03-26T13:46:19","modified_gmt":"2019-03-26T13:46:19","slug":"why-trumps-golan-heights-move-should-worry-india-and-taiwan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/2019\/03\/26\/why-trumps-golan-heights-move-should-worry-india-and-taiwan\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Trump\u2019s Golan Heights move should worry India and Taiwan"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Donald Trump signed a proclamation today (March 25) recognizing the Golan Heights as part of Israel, overturning 50 years of US precedent and defying international law on sovereign borders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That means that the world\u2019s most powerful military has decided to support Israel\u2019s 1967 occupation and 1981 annexation of a region that the rest of the world and the United Nations recognize as belonging to Syria. \u201cAggressive acts by Iran and terrorist groups, including Hizballah, in southern Syria continue to make the Golan Heights a potential launching ground for attacks on Israel,\u201d Trump said, explaining the move.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By ignoring the United Nations charter pledge to refrain from \u201cthe threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state,\u201d Trump is putting the future of other long-disputed territory in jeopardy, foreign policy experts say. \u201cIt sets a terrible precedent,\u201d said Edward Goldberg, a professor with New York University\u2019s Center for Global Affairs. \u201cIf the US doesn\u2019t recognize international law as the \u2018cop,\u2019 then who does?,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhat if China goes into Taiwan tomorrow, isn\u2019t that the same thing?,\u201d Goldberg said, \u201cor Pakistan into Kashmir?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Beijing considers Taiwan part of China, despite the fact that the island nation has an indigenous<\/a> population, is self-governing, and has conducted independent democratic elections since the 1990s. Most other democracies around the world<\/a> don\u2019t recognize Taiwan as an independent country, in deference to China, and it is barred from the United Nations. While the United States has recently partnered<\/a>with Taiwan officials to fight intellectual property theft, this January Chinese president Xi Jinping warned that Beijing could retake the island by force.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Kashmir region between India and Pakistan has been disputed for more than 70 years<\/a>, a legacy of the Partition<\/a> that accompanied Britain\u2019s withdrawal from India in 1947. Tensions rose in the volatile region in recent weeks, after India conducted a \u201cpre-emptive strike\u201d in Pakistan-controlled territory<\/a>, and Pakistan captured an Indian fighter pilot. The mostly Muslim residents of the India-administered Kashmir Valley view the national government<\/a> as an occupying force, and Pakistan officials support their self-government<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So far there are no signs that the Trump administration is interested in inserting itself into the long-simmering Pakistan-India dispute. However, the US Navy has increased<\/a> its presence in the Taiwan Strait, most recently on March 24, responding to Beijing\u2019s circling of the island in recent drills.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trump made the unprecedented Golan Heights decision in a bid to boost prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu ahead of national elections April 9. Netanyahu has been charged in several corruption cases<\/a>, although he still maintains an edge in polls<\/a>. He applauded as Trump signed the proclamation, while secretary of state Mike Pompeo and vice president Mike Pence looked on:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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CNN Politics<\/strong>\u2714<\/strong>@CNNPolitics<\/a><\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

President Trump signs a proclamation formally recognizing the contested Golan Heights as part of the state of Israel226<\/a>12:40 PM – Mar 25, 2019<\/a>251 people are talking about this<\/a>Twitter Ads info and privacy<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, and the United Nations immediately condemned Trump\u2019s proclamation<\/a>, and the UN declared Israel\u2019s annexation of the area \u201cnull and void.\u201d As president, Trump has pulled the US out<\/a> of international agreements, including the Paris Climate Accord and the TransPacific Partnership, but the Golan Heights decision is being specifically criticized<\/a> as breaking international law.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Donald Trump signed a proclamation today (March 25) recognizing the Golan Heights as part of Israel, overturning 50 years of US precedent and defying international law on sovereign borders. That means that the world\u2019s most powerful military has decided to support Israel\u2019s 1967 occupation and 1981 annexation of a region that the rest of the world and the United Nations… Read more »<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":92,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-analysis-post"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3347","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/92"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3347"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3349,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3347\/revisions\/3349"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/baileyonlineclassroom.com\/southandcentralasiablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}