The term “cold war” is being bandied about again. This time it is not referring to the Cold War between the former Soviet Union and the West, but to a new state of international competition in which a resurgent China seeks to restructure the international world order in a form more favorable to itself.
If China succeeds in this, it will pose an existential threat to Taiwan as a sovereign, independent nation enjoying democratic freedoms.
Taiwan is used to the threat from China. US guarantees on Taiwan’s security are well-documented and codified in US law. Under the administration of US President Donald Trump, there has been a distinct and welcome stepping up of security cooperation between Taiwan and the US, and US Secretary of Defense James Mattis has pushed back against Beijing’s bullying tactics in the South China Sea and the region in general.
In an interview with CNN that aired on Monday, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) said that stronger Taiwan-US security ties would “become a barrier for the Chinese to think about the future military scenarios against Taiwan.”
While all of this is welcome in terms of military security, Beijing has its eyes on achieving its goals in more subtle, all-encompassing and pernicious ways.
The cold war that Beijing is pursuing was on Friday last week brought up by Michael Collins, deputy assistant director of the CIA’s East Asia mission center, during a discussion entitled “China Rising” at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado.
Collins differentiated his use of the term from the Cold War with the Soviet Union, calling the present situation with Beijing a “cold war by definition.” He talked of China exploiting “all avenues of power, licit and illicit, public and private, economic [and] military” to undermine the standing of its rivals, “without resorting to conflict.”
At the same event, former US undersecretary of defense for intelligence Marcel Lettre talked of Beijing’s systemic approach to advancing its interests, using a “whole-of-government, whole-of-system, whole-of-state approach,” including influence operations, cyberespionage and intellectual property theft.
Two days earlier at the forum, FBI Director Christopher Wray said that China wants to position itself as “the sole dominant superpower, the sole dominant economic power,” employing a wide-reaching and coordinated approach involving academia, research and development, and “everything from agriculture to high tech.” To illustrate what he called the “pervasiveness” of the situation, Wray said that the FBI had economic espionage investigations in all 50 US states that “trace back to China.”
When Collins talks of a cold war, when Lettre speaks of the systemic, “whole-of-state approach,” when Wray talks of the pervasiveness of the situation, they are essentially referring to the “united front” tactics that China has been employing for decades.
However, it is worth bearing in mind who the real rival is, and not demonize an entire country. As Collins said, the threat of China to the US and to the international order does not come necessarily from the nation itself, nor from its rise, nor from the Chinese public or the wider Chinese diaspora: it comes from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Taiwanese have long been aware of the CCP’s united front tactics and the persuasiveness of this approach. They have no problem with China itself; the fear and frustration derive from the CCP’s persistent threats and intimidation, and its insistence that it has some kind of historical right to control how they live their lives.
The good news is that US security and intelligence agencies are evidently becoming more aware of what China is trying to achieve in terms of not just regional, but global hegemony, the pervasiveness of its tactics and how it is silently moving the world into a kind of new cold war. Wray said that people “are starting to wake up and ... rub ... the sleep out of their eyes.” The nightmare is just starting.
Recently, China launched another diplomatic offensive against Taiwan, improperly linking its “one China principle” with UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 to constrain Taiwan’s diplomatic space. After Taiwan’s presidential election on Jan. 13, China persuaded Nauru to sever diplomatic ties with Taiwan. Nauru cited Resolution 2758 in its declaration of the diplomatic break. Subsequently, during the WHO Executive Board meeting that month, Beijing rallied countries including Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Belarus, Egypt, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Laos, Russia, Syria and Pakistan to reiterate the “one China principle” in their statements, and assert that “Resolution 2758 has settled the status of Taiwan” to hinder Taiwan’s
The past few months have seen tremendous strides in India’s journey to develop a vibrant semiconductor and electronics ecosystem. The nation’s established prowess in information technology (IT) has earned it much-needed revenue and prestige across the globe. Now, through the convergence of engineering talent, supportive government policies, an expanding market and technologically adaptive entrepreneurship, India is striving to become part of global electronics and semiconductor supply chains. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Vision of “Make in India” and “Design in India” has been the guiding force behind the government’s incentive schemes that span skilling, design, fabrication, assembly, testing and packaging, and
Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s (李顯龍) decision to step down after 19 years and hand power to his deputy, Lawrence Wong (黃循財), on May 15 was expected — though, perhaps, not so soon. Most political analysts had been eyeing an end-of-year handover, to ensure more time for Wong to study and shadow the role, ahead of general elections that must be called by November next year. Wong — who is currently both deputy prime minister and minister of finance — would need a combination of fresh ideas, wisdom and experience as he writes the nation’s next chapter. The world that
As former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) wrapped up his visit to the People’s Republic of China, he received his share of attention. Certainly, the trip must be seen within the full context of Ma’s life, that is, his eight-year presidency, the Sunflower movement and his failed Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement, as well as his eight years as Taipei mayor with its posturing, accusations of money laundering, and ups and downs. Through all that, basic questions stand out: “What drives Ma? What is his end game?” Having observed and commented on Ma for decades, it is all ironically reminiscent of former US president Harry