It took a while for the news to come out, but on Thursday last week the Chinese military showed its true colors and fired a missile into space, destroying an obsolete Chinese weather satellite.
In what must rank as the funniest comment to come out of China in some time, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Liu Jianchao (
Apart from the political repercussions, the missile test represents grotesque carelessness on the part of the Chinese. The wreckage from the destroyed satellite -- a spray of tiny metallic parts -- has the small but very real potential to damage other satellites and even the International Space Station, and for a long period of time.
The US has been joined by Japan, Australia and other countries in demanding some form of accountability from the Chinese for their extraordinary behavior, but regardless of how Beijing responds, this incident demolishes the suggestion that the Chinese military and its Communist Party bosses can behave in an accountable, let alone responsible, manner in military and space affairs.
In the wake of the North Korean nuclear test, this missile test suggests that Beijing has, if anything, taken on Pyongyang has a role model.
The myth of the peaceful rise of China has many subscribers who romanticize the history of Chinese civilization. What is surprising about the destruction of the satellite, however, is that the Chinese could so summarily reduce to myth the idea that it can act as a force for regional peace and mediation.
In tandem with this, it has become clearer that the Chinese military is growing more confident and playing the Pentagon for a pack of fools. It defies common sense that the Chinese could launch this missile without informing Washington and international scientific organizations beforehand, yet this is just what appears to have happened.
Almost as worrying as the missile test is the fact that the Bush administration sat on the news of this development for a week before bringing it to public attention.
Washington's delay suggests that it has frighteningly little comprehension of the need for an immediate and unequivocal response -- if not retaliation -- over Beijing's misuse of space technology and its ramping up of military tensions in what is already a tense region.
The theory that the Middle East quagmire is compromising the security interests of the US by giving the Chinese diplomatic room to maneuver and allowing it to expand its military capabilities with impunity is gaining more currency. Of greatest concern for Taiwan, therefore, is the possibility that the US government's ability to retaliate against symbolic and technical advances in China's military capabilities has been dulled.
The US State Department, and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in particular, must denounce the Chinese launch in the strongest terms and prepare a practical response if they are to be taken seriously in the region.
Tongue-clucking and muted expressions of regret from the State Department will not wash. The Chinese can destroy satellites from ground-based missiles and they want the world to know it. Beijing must be made to understand that responsible nations will not tolerate the direction in which it has chosen to travel.
A gap appears to be emerging between Washington’s foreign policy elites and the broader American public on how the United States should respond to China’s rise. From my vantage working at a think tank in Washington, DC, and through regular travel around the United States, I increasingly experience two distinct discussions. This divergence — between America’s elite hawkishness and public caution — may become one of the least appreciated and most consequential external factors influencing Taiwan’s security environment in the years ahead. Within the American policy community, the dominant view of China has grown unmistakably tough. Many members of Congress, as
After declaring Iran’s military “gone,” US President Donald Trump appealed to the UK, France, Japan and South Korea — as well as China, Iran’s strategic partner — to send minesweepers and naval forces to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. When allies balked, the request turned into a warning: NATO would face “a very bad” future if it refused. The prevailing wisdom is that Trump faces a credibility problem: having spent years insulting allies, he finds they would not rally when he needs them. That is true, but superficial, as though a structural collapse could be caused by wounded feelings. Something
Former Taipei mayor and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) founding chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was sentenced to 17 years in prison on Thursday, making headlines across major media. However, another case linked to the TPP — the indictment of Chinese immigrant Xu Chunying (徐春鶯) for alleged violations of the Anti-Infiltration Act (反滲透法) on Tuesday — has also stirred up heated discussions. Born in Shanghai, Xu became a resident of Taiwan through marriage in 1993. Currently the director of the Taiwan New Immigrant Development Association, she was elected to serve as legislator-at-large for the TPP in 2023, but was later charged with involvement
Out of 64 participating universities in this year’s Stars Program — through which schools directly recommend their top students to universities for admission — only 19 filled their admissions quotas. There were 922 vacancies, down more than 200 from last year; top universities had 37 unfilled places, 40 fewer than last year. The original purpose of the Stars Program was to expand admissions to a wider range of students. However, certain departments at elite universities that failed to meet their admissions quotas are not improving. Vacancies at top universities are linked to students’ program preferences on their applications, but inappropriate admission
RSS