Hold your horses, please
Since the presidential election campaign began, Taiwan's visibility in international news reports has increased. Hundreds of journalists from around the world gathered here to witness the election's outcome.
Despite the post-election social and political turmoil, the political situation has cooled down in recent weeks, and so has Taiwan's profile in the international media.
The issues that the global media were most interested in covering were President Chen Shui-bian's (
Suffice it to say that A-bian (阿扁) failed to achieve his referendum agenda, yet that failure effectively clarified Taiwan's security issues for the world at large. Perhaps making this point was what he actually intended to accomplish, rather than the passage of the referendum.
A-bian has thus far elevated the level of global awareness of China's tyrannical policies, particularly of the hundreds of missiles aimed at Taiwan.
Nowadays when I talk with someone in Canada who might not even know where Taiwan is, chances are she or he knows that Taiwan has a serious problem with its neighbor China. Based on that fact alone, A-bian deserves 100 percent credit for sending out this message so effectively.
However, a more serious problem confronting Taiwan's security is not its inability to further publicize China's military threat. It is rather the post-facto clean-up resolution with the US, Taiwan's most significant ally, which also serves this nation as its weapons manufacturing powerhouse and as a cross-strait balancing element.
By clean-up resolution, I do not mean any voluntary submission by Taiwan to US-imposed policy alternatives. Instead, Taiwan should restrain itself from further provoking the Americans, and especially the Chinese tyrants.
To be more specific, the proposed 2006 Constitutional reform ought to be put into the freezer until the heat wave outside cools down. Its reintroduction, or any fundamental change in the current cross-strait status quo, will undoubtedly be interpreted as posing a serious threat to the US' national interest, as well as to China's.
Washington's fundamental interest is that Taiwan remain a semi-independent country, to be sold as many expensive weapons as possible, for as long as China maintains its missiles and other military threats against Taiwan.
As for China, as long as its dream of unification remains it can be metaphorically said to be a big baby crying for milk; once he is fed, he will quiet down.
As for Taiwan, A-bian should lead the nation quietly and discreetly toward a new position within the trilateral framework, toning down the independence rhetoric but significantly upgrading national military capabilities.
Taiwan should be the fisherman sitting idly waiting for the fish to come in, not the other way around. Let the big boys fight each other!
Lee Chia-le
Canada
US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) were born under the sign of Gemini. Geminis are known for their intelligence, creativity, adaptability and flexibility. It is unlikely, then, that the trade conflict between the US and China would escalate into a catastrophic collision. It is more probable that both sides would seek a way to de-escalate, paving the way for a Trump-Xi summit that allows the global economy some breathing room. Practically speaking, China and the US have vulnerabilities, and a prolonged trade war would be damaging for both. In the US, the electoral system means that public opinion
In their recent op-ed “Trump Should Rein In Taiwan” in Foreign Policy magazine, Christopher Chivvis and Stephen Wertheim argued that the US should pressure President William Lai (賴清德) to “tone it down” to de-escalate tensions in the Taiwan Strait — as if Taiwan’s words are more of a threat to peace than Beijing’s actions. It is an old argument dressed up in new concern: that Washington must rein in Taipei to avoid war. However, this narrative gets it backward. Taiwan is not the problem; China is. Calls for a so-called “grand bargain” with Beijing — where the US pressures Taiwan into concessions
The term “assassin’s mace” originates from Chinese folklore, describing a concealed weapon used by a weaker hero to defeat a stronger adversary with an unexpected strike. In more general military parlance, the concept refers to an asymmetric capability that targets a critical vulnerability of an adversary. China has found its modern equivalent of the assassin’s mace with its high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) weapons, which are nuclear warheads detonated at a high altitude, emitting intense electromagnetic radiation capable of disabling and destroying electronics. An assassin’s mace weapon possesses two essential characteristics: strategic surprise and the ability to neutralize a core dependency.
Chinese President and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Chairman Xi Jinping (習近平) said in a politburo speech late last month that his party must protect the “bottom line” to prevent systemic threats. The tone of his address was grave, revealing deep anxieties about China’s current state of affairs. Essentially, what he worries most about is systemic threats to China’s normal development as a country. The US-China trade war has turned white hot: China’s export orders have plummeted, Chinese firms and enterprises are shutting up shop, and local debt risks are mounting daily, causing China’s economy to flag externally and hemorrhage internally. China’s
RSS