Nation vulnerable to `three wars' plan: panel

Panelists attending a forum on regional security yesterday called upon the public not to take lightly China's relentless "three wars" strategy.

The "three wars" strategy refers to Beijing's plan to threaten Taiwanese psychologically, block Taiwan's participation in international organizations and "brainwash" Taiwan and its allies through "united front" (統戰) propaganda aimed at extending its influence in Taiwan.

"The end goal of the Chinese government's `three wars' is to make Taiwanese believe that Taiwan is part of China," said Chen Lung-chu (陳隆志), president of the Taiwan New Century Foundation think tank, which hosted the forum.

prevention

"Strengthening Taiwanese people's sense of national identification is the best defense against the threats post by China's `three wars,'" Chen said.

Former Taiwan Solidarity Union chairman Shu Chin-chiang (蘇進強) said that Beijing's "three wars" strategy was a threat to Taiwan and that Taiwanese government officials seemed oblivious to the seriousness of the challenge.

"The biggest problem is that Taiwan has become so democratic that everybody takes freedom for granted," Shu said. "This has also become the nation's greatest weakness."

"In addition, our government officials are not educated or well-trained enough to combat Beijing's brainwash strategy," Shu said.

Huafan University Research Center for Humanistic Education professor Lee Ming-juinn (李明峻), another panelist at the forum, said that in recent years, China had been developing and training legal professionals and taking advantage of legal angles to deal with international issues or topics concerning Taiwan.

diplomatic game

Taiwan, for its part, did not focus on the legal angle to fight back, he said.

Whenever China established diplomatic relations with a country and signed official agreements, they always requested the country to concede that Taiwan was part of China, Lee said.

However, when Taiwan established diplomatic relations with a foreign country, the Taiwanese government did not request its new friend to acknowledge "a clear distinction between Taiwan and China," Lee said.

"China has been brainwashing the world to the effect that Taiwan is part of China. We should promote the truth, which is that Taiwan is independent," he said.