The Korean people sometimes complain that their country could be described as "a shrimp between whales." Throughout the nation's history, Korea has found itself at the mercy of large foreign powers. Like Korea, Taiwan might also be described as a shrimp between whales. For centuries, the island's fate has been shaped largely by external events and outside pressures.
Beginning in the 1500s, European imperialists sought to occupy Taiwan. From 1683 until 1886 it was loosely administered as a prefecture of Fujian Province, and then it became a province of its own. In 1895, following China's defeat in the first Sino-Japanese War, Taiwan was formally ceded to Japan. Efforts by local inhabitants to resist the occupation and establish an independent republic were brutally crushed by Japanese troops and received no support from the Chinese government or other external powers. The Taiwanese were then enslaved by Japan. No outside power seemed to care.
In 1943, the Allies issued the Cairo Declaration which stated that Taiwan should be returned to the Republic of China. Several years later, Chiang Kai-shek's (
Taiwan's anticipated fall to the People's Republic of China was prevented by the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950. The US did not "neutralize" the Taiwan Strait to save Chiang. Rather, strategic calculations led the US to protect Taiwan.
Several decades later, shifts in the international system led US president Richard Nixon to patch up relations with China. According to declassified documents, the president made many concessions to Beijing. In fact, Henry Kissinger assured premier Zhou Enlai (
Since the 1970s, external events beyond Taiwan's control have continued to exercise an inordinate degree of influence over the island. The end of the Cold War yielded some dividends. But more recently, the war on terror has led Washington to move closer to Beijing.
Like the proverbial shrimp caught between whales, Taiwan must chart a careful course in the troubled waters of international politics. In order to survive and prosper, it must avoid antagonizing Washington, its chief ally, and Beijing, its only adversary. This is not an easy task. And it is complicated by the fact that some Taiwanese politicians are determined to play politics with the nation's defense.
If the Taiwanese people hope to have any say whatsoever in the future of their country, it is imperative that Taiwan maintain a defensive capability sufficient to deter aggression by an external power. In the interest of national security, Taiwanese lawmakers should put politics aside and pass the arms procurement bill designed to purchase diesel submarines, maritime patrol aircraft and Patriot anti-missile batteries. While politicians dither and delay, China is deploying additional missiles directly opposite Taiwan and building up its military.
Taiwan may be a shrimp between whales. As a small island, that is reality. But it should not degenerate into a pitiful, spineless jellyfish. There is much that this proud island can do to influence its future trajectory in the global community. One crucial step is to approve President Chen Shui-bian's (
Dennis Hickey is professor of political science at Missouri State University.
As strategic tensions escalate across the vast Indo-Pacific region, Taiwan has emerged as more than a potential flashpoint. It is the fulcrum upon which the credibility of the evolving American-led strategy of integrated deterrence now rests. How the US and regional powers like Japan respond to Taiwan’s defense, and how credible the deterrent against Chinese aggression proves to be, will profoundly shape the Indo-Pacific security architecture for years to come. A successful defense of Taiwan through strengthened deterrence in the Indo-Pacific would enhance the credibility of the US-led alliance system and underpin America’s global preeminence, while a failure of integrated deterrence would
The Executive Yuan recently revised a page of its Web site on ethnic groups in Taiwan, replacing the term “Han” (漢族) with “the rest of the population.” The page, which was updated on March 24, describes the composition of Taiwan’s registered households as indigenous (2.5 percent), foreign origin (1.2 percent) and the rest of the population (96.2 percent). The change was picked up by a social media user and amplified by local media, sparking heated discussion over the weekend. The pan-blue and pro-China camp called it a politically motivated desinicization attempt to obscure the Han Chinese ethnicity of most Taiwanese.
On Wednesday last week, the Rossiyskaya Gazeta published an article by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) asserting the People’s Republic of China’s (PRC) territorial claim over Taiwan effective 1945, predicated upon instruments such as the 1943 Cairo Declaration and the 1945 Potsdam Proclamation. The article further contended that this de jure and de facto status was subsequently reaffirmed by UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 of 1971. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs promptly issued a statement categorically repudiating these assertions. In addition to the reasons put forward by the ministry, I believe that China’s assertions are open to questions in international
The Legislative Yuan passed an amendment on Friday last week to add four national holidays and make Workers’ Day a national holiday for all sectors — a move referred to as “four plus one.” The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), who used their combined legislative majority to push the bill through its third reading, claim the holidays were chosen based on their inherent significance and social relevance. However, in passing the amendment, they have stuck to the traditional mindset of taking a holiday just for the sake of it, failing to make good use of
RSS