Is the enemy's enemy my friend? American public support for Taiwan under the context of the Sino–US trade war

Abstract

PurposeIn 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/approachTo 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).FindingsThe 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/valueOur 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.