The vast majority of the 23 million residents of Taiwan regard themselves as Taiwanese and they overwhelmingly reject Chinese annexation of the nation. The Sunflower movement that started with the occupation of the legislature on March 18 by college students and spread rapidly to many sectors of Taiwan’s civil society vividly attests to this.
Taiwan’s situation is precarious. The military balance has clearly shifted in favor of China. The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) under President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) is collaborating with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to surrender Taiwan, by signing a peace accord with Beijing. To this end, Ma is pressing for a meeting with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) at an APEC meeting in November. Because the KMT controls both the executive and legislative branches of government and the mass media, Taiwan’s citizens have few means to resist this momentum toward absorption by China, despite the 500,000-strong protest against the passing of the ill-conceived service trade agreement with China.
If Taiwan was to fall by Chinese military coercion or internal subversion, the US would suffer a geostrategic disaster. The sea lanes and airspace around Taiwan are critical to the survival of Japan and South Korea. Once in control of Taiwan, China would be in a position to pressure Japan and South Korea to become its vassal states. It is most likely that Chinese acquisition of Taiwan would trigger a chain of events resulting in China’s hegemony over East Asia.
The preservation of Taiwan as an independent democracy is in the interests of the US and its democratic allies in Asia precisely because Taiwan’s democracy is a thorn in the side of the CCP.
Taiwan is a beacon of hope for those Chinese who aspire to a more open society with rule of law, freedom of expression and religion, and in which people can freely elect their officials and representatives at all levels of government.
Taiwan’s experience disproves the fallacy that democratic values are incompatible with Asian culture. An independent Taiwan hinders China’s projection of power into the Pacific and Indian Oceans, and safeguards the vital sea lines between Japan and South Korea, so the preservation of Taiwan’s freedom contributes directly to the peace and stability of East Asia and beyond.
Assuming that Washington has the wisdom to realize the importance of Taiwan’s freedom to peace and stability of East Asia and ultimately to the security of the US homeland, what can the US do to preserve Taiwan’s de facto independence from China?
First, the US should make clear its position that the so-called People’s Republic of China government has no legitimate sovereignty over Taiwan. Washington should reiterate the US policy that the future of Taiwan must be resolved peacefully and with the express assent of Taiwanese.
Second, US President Barack Obama’s administration should work with Congress to speed up the sale of advanced fighters and other weapons needed to resist a People’s Liberation Army invasion of Taiwan.
Washington should also initiate high-level contacts between the militaries of the US and Taiwan, to boost Taiwan’s morale and readiness and to help counter any subversive activities within Taiwan. Such exchanges could include port calls by US navy ships.
Third, the US should actively assist Taiwan in reducing its excessive economic dependence on China. Bringing Taiwan into the Trans-Pacific Partnership at an early stage would help.
The acquisition of Taiwan would propel China toward expansionism and eventual conflict with the US.
“Taiwan’s security is ultimately America’s security as well,” late US representative Gerald Solomon said.
Former US president Woodrow Wilson, in a speech before the US Senate in January 1917, proposed a doctrine: “That no nation should seek to extend its policy over any other nations or people, but that every people should be left free to determine its own policy, its own way of development, unhindered, unthreatened, unafraid, the little along with the great and powerful.”
The US should be brave enough to uphold this principle of self-determination for the people of Taiwan, because doing so is ultimately in the US’ best interest.
Former British prime minister Winston Churchill once said the US would eventually do the right thing, but not before exhausting all other possibilities.
In engaging the People’s Republic of China, the foremost objective of the US should not be to avoid Beijing’s displeasure, and the US’ security should not be dependent on China’s goodwill.
Let us hope that the US will do the right thing, sooner rather than later, as the cost of complacency and delay will be high.
Li Thian-hok is a freelance commentator, based in Pennsylvania in the US.
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