A Chinese joke goes, "you won't know how low your government post is until you are in Beijing, you won't know how poor you are until you are in Shanghai and you won't know how unhealthy you are until you are in Hainan." To this one can now add: "You won't know that the Cultural Revolution is still going on until you are in Taiwan." Although the Cultural Revolution was launched by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) chairman Mao Zedong (毛澤東) and there is no Mao here, after observing the current situation, I tend to agree.
Mao launched the Cultural Revolution in the name of culture, but it was in fact aimed at toppling then Chinese president Liu Shaoqi (
Mao started the Cultural Revolution through government-controlled publications -- the People's Daily, the People's Liberation Daily and Hongqi Magazine. Their editorials, special reports and articles by members of the "proletarian headquarters" moulded public opinion. After the "red shock wave" was initiated, the nation moved in unison. Those who were named, were immediately criticized and denounced at public meetings. To protect themselves, officials at lower party levels disclosed information about people in their area or departments to label them all "monsters and demons."
These people -- referred to as the "five black classes," later expanded to eight -- were not arrested. Rather, they were exposed by the dictatorship of the masses and the "five red classes." They were paraded through the streets to be reproached, beaten and spat on. At the time, doctors would ask about one's background, and if there was any connectiontto someone in the five black classes, treatment was refused. China was immersed in a red terror.
The CCP spread slogans to encourage violence against "bad" people. The struggle aggravated social division, almost paralyzed the government and brought the economy to the brink of collapse.
After Mao seized power and successfully implemented the "grand revolutionary coalition," neither side approved of people from the other side. As a result, one faction emerged and took power -- still requiring approval from above -- while the five black categories were slowly rehabilitated.
Taiwan's culture of disclosure is similar to the Cultural Revolution's attitude to "question and attack everything." Taiwan's pro-independence forces are now being beaten and forced to apologize just like the "five black classes." Where is the democracy in that? In fact, China is the one manipulating this populism. Although there is no Mao here, China's influence is everywhere.
Finding a politician like Shih Ming-teh (施明德) who has never been to China is not easy. Unfortunately, the presence of people like fugitive tycoon Chen Yu-hao (陳由豪) in the Million Voices Against Corruption campaign -- as well as pro-unification politicians, entertainers who rely on the big China market and China-backed gangsters -- has changed Shih's position in the political spectrum. I worry that Shih's campaign will bring the Cultural Revolution back from the dead. The question is, is he in control?
The Cultural Revolution brought disaster to China and Beijing knows that if political intimidation and military coercion do not change Taiwan, it can use the campaign to depose Chen to create a cultural revolution to divide Taiwan.
But will deposing Chen satisfy China's ultimate goal of controlling Taiwan?
The government and opposition must gain a clear understanding of the issue.
Paul Lin is a political commentator based in Taipei. Translated by Lin Ya-ti
Taiwan stands at the epicenter of a seismic shift that will determine the Indo-Pacific’s future security architecture. Whether deterrence prevails or collapses will reverberate far beyond the Taiwan Strait, fundamentally reshaping global power dynamics. The stakes could not be higher. Today, Taipei confronts an unprecedented convergence of threats from an increasingly muscular China that has intensified its multidimensional pressure campaign. Beijing’s strategy is comprehensive: military intimidation, diplomatic isolation, economic coercion, and sophisticated influence operations designed to fracture Taiwan’s democratic society from within. This challenge is magnified by Taiwan’s internal political divisions, which extend to fundamental questions about the island’s identity and future
The narrative surrounding Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s attendance at last week’s Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) summit — where he held hands with Russian President Vladimir Putin and chatted amiably with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) — was widely framed as a signal of Modi distancing himself from the US and edging closer to regional autocrats. It was depicted as Modi reacting to the levying of high US tariffs, burying the hatchet over border disputes with China, and heralding less engagement with the Quadrilateral Security dialogue (Quad) composed of the US, India, Japan and Australia. With Modi in China for the
The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) has postponed its chairperson candidate registration for two weeks, and so far, nine people have announced their intention to run for chairperson, the most on record, with more expected to announce their campaign in the final days. On the evening of Aug. 23, shortly after seven KMT lawmakers survived recall votes, KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) announced he would step down and urged Taichung Mayor Lu Shiow-yen (盧秀燕) to step in and lead the party back to power. Lu immediately ruled herself out the following day, leaving the subject in question. In the days that followed, several
The Jamestown Foundation last week published an article exposing Beijing’s oil rigs and other potential dual-use platforms in waters near Pratas Island (Dongsha Island, 東沙島). China’s activities there resembled what they did in the East China Sea, inside the exclusive economic zones of Japan and South Korea, as well as with other South China Sea claimants. However, the most surprising element of the report was that the authors’ government contacts and Jamestown’s own evinced little awareness of China’s activities. That Beijing’s testing of Taiwanese (and its allies) situational awareness seemingly went unnoticed strongly suggests the need for more intelligence. Taiwan’s naval
RSS