Over the last few days, the global media has dedicated much attention to reports of the US Army's capture of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein.
After eight months on the run, following the US military's capture of the Iraqi capital, Baghdad, this dictator, who is responsible for the persecution of his people, the eight-year-long Iran-Iraq war and two Persian Gulf wars, was finally arrested on the outskirts of his hometown, Tikrit, thus putting an end to an era of terror in Iraq.
The US is of course the most qualified to comment on Saddam's capture, but, as a member of the international community and part of the anti-terrorist camp, Taiwan should also listen to what Israel, which finds itself in a situation similar to Taiwan's, says.
Israeli President Moshe Katsav has said that the capture of Saddam is not only a warning to those who support terrorism, but that it also proves that the international community will not tolerate a dictatorship that supports international terrorism.
Although the Chinese media initially publicized the news of Saddam's capture, Chinese officialdom has kept a low profile on the matter. The government in Beijing has, in fact, never supported US military action in Iraq. On account of the Chinese media's distortion of facts, the Chinese public feels that the US has been acting too much like a hegemon in its deployment of troops in Iraq.
Chinese officialdom has persisted in its view that the Iraqi issue should be resolved within the framework of the UN. Ironically, China's threats and actions toward Taiwan are not different from the behavior of Saddam and the former Iraqi government.
We all know that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), after its defeat of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) in 1949, took over the Chinese mainland and founded the People's Republic of China. From that time on, the two sides of the Taiwan Strait have been individually and separately ruled, with neither side holding any jurisdiction over the other, thus creating a situation with one country on each side of the Taiwan Strait.
The People's Liberation Army continued its artillery aggression against Kinmen, and even though they were defeated twice, they never gave up their ambition to invade Taiwan.
But China, taking advantage of its increasing strength in recent years, has done its utmost to destroy the existence of the Republic of China, through political, economic and diplomatic means, as well as through suppressing athletic and cultural exchanges.
In particular, following Taiwan's continuous opening-up, China has in recent years mobilized its enormous manpower and material resources to infiltrate every level of Taiwanese society by means of fake marriages, prostitution, blood relations, trade, illegal immigration, drug smuggling and illegal arms.
They have carried out various kinds of intelligence-gathering, created family and social problems and upset social order; used marine-exploration vessels to carry out hydrographic exploration of Taiwan's territorial waters and paid Taiwanese businesspeople and unscrupulous elements to sell military secrets; used the Internet to hack into Taiwanese government Web sites to obtain classified materials, and organized an "Internet army" to carry out a large-scale information war; and used military exercises and other semi-military activities such as missile tests in attempts to control our elections and create public panic and stock market declines.
Today, they are aiming almost 500 missiles at Taiwan in order to terrorize the Taiwanese people into submission. All these activities can be summed up in one word -- terrorism.
We must understand what terrorism is. Terrorism includes a series of activities that attempt to spread terror, fear and destruction among groups of people. Terrorism can be divided into state and anti-state terrorism or social and political terrorism. Be it state or anti-state terrorism, terrorists strive for political goals.
In terms of state terrorism, the most important factor is that the organization in power wants to consolidate its power and oppose the will and determination of opposition forces. It does not hesitate to use violence for that purpose.
From this, we can more clearly understand China's ambitions and intentions.
Self-determination for residents and referendums are becoming a global trend, but China has used every method available to obstruct the passage of the Referendum Law (
To stop Taiwan from holding a referendum, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (
The CCP has never ruled Taiwan, nor has it ever governed the 23 million people of Taiwan. The Chinese communist regime has never contributed to Taiwan's history and success, nor has it ever given any sympathy or concern to the Taiwanese people when they have suffered tribulations in the past.
We only see China using infiltration and sabotage in Taiwan, ruthlessly suppressing Taiwan's international survival and using military power to try to force the Taiwanese people to accept "one country, two systems," which would bring Taiwan under China's authoritarian rule.
In a marriage, a man and a woman need to seek mutual consensus.
How can the Chinese regime be allowed to call the shots in an issue involving the welfare of 23 million people?
The Taiwanese are a tenacious people.
They have never feared any bullying from external powers. In 50 years of facing China's military threat, we have never compromised or backed down. On the contrary, we have been able to succeed in an unfavorable environment and create a "Taiwan miracle" that is praised by everyone.
Taiwanese people are also a peace-loving people.
They have spared no effort to safeguard world peace. After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks in the US, Taiwan joined the US' anti-terror efforts along with many other countries.
An anti-terrorism bill passed initial review in Taiwan recently. This was a demonstration of the government's determination to oppose terrorism.
Looking only at the military threats that China has posed to Taiwan, we perhaps cannot call China a terrorist organization.
But its long series of actions aimed at spreading terror, panic and destruction among groups of people do meet the criteria for terrorism.
They not only contravene the international community's beliefs about safeguarding peace, but also seriously hurt the Taiwanese people's feelings.
We hope the Chinese leaders can renounce their military threats and terrorism, withdraw the missiles they have deployed in coastal regions and aimed at Taiwan, take actions to win goodwill from Taiwanese people and let Taiwan's 23 million people be free from fear. This will be only the first step toward peaceful relations across the Taiwan Strait.
The US, for its part, should not employ double standards in fighting terrorism and maintaining world peace. Nor should it concern itself with capturing Saddam and Osama bin Laden while at the same time bowing and kneeling before China's state terrorism.
This would be truly deplorable, and detrimental to the US' democratic image.
Translated by Perry Svensson and Francis Huang
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