Is the enemy's enemy my friend? American public support for Taiwan under the context of the Sino–US trade war
Asian Education and Development Studies
ISSN: 2046-3162
Article publication date: 6 October 2020
Issue publication date: 3 March 2022
Abstract
Purpose
In this paper, the authors investigate the factors that explain US public support for military operation for the enemy's enemy, and argue that US public support for military defense could be attributed to three factors – whether such support aligns with US national interests, whether the public perceives the US enemy to be a threat and whether interventions and military assistance to the enemy's enemy garner moral grounds.
Design/methodology/approach
To find evidence of our claims, the authors conducted two survey experiments in 2018 and 2019 on Amazon.com's Mechanical Turk (MTurk) to see whether the ongoing trade war between the US and China (enemy) would alter the public's willingness to provide military assistance to Taiwan (enemy's enemy).
Findings
The authors first find that US national interests only matter when the public considers China's military to be not a threat when the US–China rivalry intensifies. In both waves, respondents were most likely to support for Taiwan's defense if they perceived China's military to be a major threat, followed by a minor threat and not a threat, respectively. Contrary to our theoretical expectation, the study does not find empirical support for moral factors.
Originality/value
Our research applies the survey experiments among the US public to gauge public support for the enemy's enemy (Taiwan), which generates unique and vital findings to foreign policymakers and international observers.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors thank Jinhyeok Jang, Nick Lin, Dennis L. C. Weng, Tse-min Lin, and Jessica Liao for their helpful comments and suggestions regarding this research.
Citation
Yeh, Y.-Y. and Wu, C.K.S. (2022), "Is the enemy's enemy my friend? American public support for Taiwan under the context of the Sino–US trade war", Asian Education and Development Studies, Vol. 11 No. 2, pp. 236-247. https://doi.org/10.1108/AEDS-07-2020-0163
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2020, Emerald Publishing Limited