A few days ago, there was a call to pair Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairman Lien Chan (
Maybe what Lien meant to say was that the alliance between him and Soong was rock solid, but such a relationship would be better described as an alliance carved in stone.
There is too much tension hidden in the phrase "iron and blood." It is readily associated with triads and their blood oaths. Many KMT revolutionaries were indeed triad members.
Sun Yat-sen (
The alliance of iron and blood between the KMT and the triads had still not been completely dissolved by the time Henry Liu (
Even if we try to offer a more positive interpretation of the meaning of an "alliance made of iron and blood," it still carries a notion of unhappiness and an undemocratic flavor.
The "iron" in the epithet "Iron Chancellor" given to Germany's Otto von Bismarck is a way of describing absolute military power. Is it still appropriate for politicians in a democratic country to harbor such attitudes in the 21st century?
Talk of an alliance made of iron and blood also leads to an easy association with "the deepest mutual sincerity" that former president Lee Teng-hui (
Historically, too many relationships have progressed from the deepest mutual sincerity to heartbroken grief. One example is the relationship between Saigo Takamori and Okubo Toshimichi, two Japanese statesmen from the Meiji era. From childhood, they were the best of friends. Toshimichi, skinny and weak, was often bullied by the other children. Each time he was saved by the sturdy Takamori. Both grew up to become government officials and together they promoted reform.
With the advent of the Meiji Restoration, their relationship ended in heartbreak due to different ideals. Takamori resigned his post and returned to his home in Kagoshima, where he was pushed into starting the Satsuma revolt. When the revolt was put down, he committed suicide. Not long after, Toshimichi was assassinated. Before dying, he uttered the following tragic words: "Saigo, oh Saigo, the great wheel of time crushed your body, then it crushed mine, and it keeps rolling still."
There are many other examples where the outcome of an alliance made of iron and blood was the shedding of blood. One such example was the relationship between Leon Trotsky, Nikolai Bucharin and Joseph Stalin. Another was between Wang Ching-wei (
The relationship between Che Guevara and Cuban President Fidel Castro is probably the one that best symbolizes a more positive outcome of an alliance made of iron and blood. The reason why the relationship between these blood brothers from the Cuban revolution can be said to be more positive is that very early on Guevara understood Castro's hypocrisy and arrogance and left for the Congo and then Bolivia to continue his revolutionary mission. In the end, he died in a small village in Bolivia.
It is ironic that a happy ending to an alliance of iron and blood is related to physical distance and not to emotional closeness. This is the way people are. It is a reality that cannot be altered.
Rather than serving the benefit of individuals, a political alliance is often a temporary compromise between two groups of people with competing interests -- bringing together two porcupines spells trouble, but putting several of them in a limited space will result in bloodshed.
There is an old saying that "officials should not entertain personal relationships." The idea was that protocol should be used to restrict military alliances between officials. This must have been based on previous experience. Personal relationships, alliances and revolts are an eternal trio in relationships between officials.
In this democratic era it is more reasonable to talk of politicians coming together as a result of pressures from public opinion or deciding to move apart as a result of trends in public opinion. Please leave all this talk of "deepest mutual sincerity" and "alliances of iron and blood" to the side.
Wu Chin-fa is a columnist.
Translated by Perry Svensson
Could Asia be on the verge of a new wave of nuclear proliferation? A look back at the early history of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which recently celebrated its 75th anniversary, illuminates some reasons for concern in the Indo-Pacific today. US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin recently described NATO as “the most powerful and successful alliance in history,” but the organization’s early years were not without challenges. At its inception, the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty marked a sea change in American strategic thinking. The United States had been intent on withdrawing from Europe in the years following
My wife and I spent the week in the interior of Taiwan where Shuyuan spent her childhood. In that town there is a street that functions as an open farmer’s market. Walk along that street, as Shuyuan did yesterday, and it is next to impossible to come home empty-handed. Some mangoes that looked vaguely like others we had seen around here ended up on our table. Shuyuan told how she had bought them from a little old farmer woman from the countryside who said the mangoes were from a very old tree she had on her property. The big surprise
The issue of China’s overcapacity has drawn greater global attention recently, with US Secretary of the Treasury Janet Yellen urging Beijing to address its excess production in key industries during her visit to China last week. Meanwhile in Brussels, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen last week said that Europe must have a tough talk with China on its perceived overcapacity and unfair trade practices. The remarks by Yellen and Von der Leyen come as China’s economy is undergoing a painful transition. Beijing is trying to steer the world’s second-largest economy out of a COVID-19 slump, the property crisis and
The past few months have seen tremendous strides in India’s journey to develop a vibrant semiconductor and electronics ecosystem. The nation’s established prowess in information technology (IT) has earned it much-needed revenue and prestige across the globe. Now, through the convergence of engineering talent, supportive government policies, an expanding market and technologically adaptive entrepreneurship, India is striving to become part of global electronics and semiconductor supply chains. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Vision of “Make in India” and “Design in India” has been the guiding force behind the government’s incentive schemes that span skilling, design, fabrication, assembly, testing and packaging, and