Don't blame the US
As an American, I take exception to James Wang's (
I write this as one who believes that the world should have recognized an international border off Xiamen and Fuzhou long ago; that Taiwan, whether it calls itself Taiwan, the Republic of China or anything else, is a real nation; and that US President George W. Bush should have told Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) that Britain's former American empire is now a divided country, the two parts of which get along quite well, with embassies in each other's capitals, and which share the world's longest unguarded border.
The chief difference between Wang and myself is that he takes Beijing's protestations of anti-hegemonic innocence at face value, whereas I take Beijing at its word when it says it wants war.
Wang needs to note that on the issue of Taiwan's sovereignty, all the cards are in the hands of a Beijing government that has made it clear it is willing to make the last chapter of the Chinese civil war a nuclear one, and that it badly wants war to prove itself a superpower and redeem its nationalist pledges.
While I may criticize aspects of Bush's foreign policy, this time around I recognize that, no matter the depth of sympathy Bush may have for Taiwanese democratization, he fears a war in which a lot of bombs are likely to hit Taiwan, and in which most of the casualties would be Taiwanese.
I especially take offense at Wang's line that "the US failed to give the people in Taiwan an opportunity to decide their own future after World War II." I'm sorry, but Taiwan was never the US' Hong Kong, and Taiwan's democracy was thus never for America to give. Wang's statements presuppose the Chinese Communist lie that Taiwan was under US occupation between 1950 and 1979, the widespread leftist superstition that the CIA is omnicompetent, or both.
As a former official of the US Department of State, I can state that if the CIA had a tenth of the power the common leftist superstition imagines that it has, China and Taiwan today would either be two multiparty democracies with seats in the UN and demilitarized entry points at Xiamen and Kinmen, or else a single multiparty democracy.
Taiwan, of all countries, ought to understand that there are very real limits to US power. When given half a chance, the US' first international instinct is to head for home and relax rather than build an empire.
The reason Taiwan is in diplomatic limbo, despite the best efforts of presidents Chiang Ching-kuo (
That's right. The US lost the Cold War. At least, that's how it looked to all of us back in 1978. We Americans were whipped in Vietnam and determined never again to involve ourselves in similar adventures.
The world's best minds were certain that Maoism was a viable economic and political option for Third World countries, and rational, humane Euroleftist intellectuals who knew everything were certain that Beijing would have Taiwan after the passing of the Chiangs.
That was why former US president Jimmy Carter cut Taiwan off.
It seems that Chen does not take seriously Beijing's threat to make war. This is clear from his foot-dragging on national defense and his taking for granted an already over-stretched US military coming to Taiwan's rescue. Or perhaps he has not outgrown the delusion held by Taiwan independence activists of three decades ago that the Chinese communists had to be humane since they fought against Chiang Kai-shek (
Yes, I agree that Taiwan is a real country which the rest of the world needs to recognize. But before asking Americans to give that which isn't theirs to give, Taiwan's green camp needs to do the following.
First, press Beijing, and not the US, to make good on its anti-hegemonic and anti-colonial rhetoric.
Second, recognize that a functioning democracy can't itch for social or ethnic civil war. The green camp must find ways to present a "united front" with the blue camp, which doesn't seem to be in any hurry to live under the communists, either.
Third, make common cause with democracy forces in China.
Fourth, make it clear that if Beijing pushes for a military settlement, it will pay a heavy price whether or not the US gets involved.
Finally, point out that if Taiwan faces the choice of surrender or suffering, Beijing faces the choice of having a reliable neighbor or a disgruntled territory.
Peter J. Herz
Taichung
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