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Taiwan should not depend on Washington

During an interview with the Washington Times on July 13, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) told the paper's defense reporter Bill Gertz, "Greater military-to-military exchanges and cooperation are necessary between Taiwan and the US." The Ministry of National Defense has also said that it does not rule out the possibility of holding joint military exercises with the US. Although the suggestions have some merit, they in fact amount to nothing more than wishful thinking on Taiwan's part, in light of the current state of cross-strait relations.

Taiwan holds the one-sided belief that ground-breaking military exchanges with the US are attainable in light of the fact that President George W. Bush views China as a strategic competitor rather than as a partner, and that the EP-3 surveillance plane incident has brought new opportunities. Will the damaged Sino-US relations, however, really serve as a turning point in the establishment of a military alliance between Taiwan and the US? There appears little cause for optimism.

From the US' standpoint, although Beijing and Washington no longer enjoy a strategic partnership, they are not necessarily potential rivals or enemies. The US has has always operated a dual strategy of maintaining contact with China on the one hand while besieging it on the other. Interactions between the two nations are far from being derailed. Indeed, they can be expected only to become more intensive.

The US, moreover, still stands by Beijing's "one China" (一個中國) policy. Neither the three Sino-US communiques nor the consistent US position of opposing Taiwan's entry into any international organizations as a sovereign state has been changed. There has therefore been no significant change to Taiwan's role in Sino-US relations.

From China's standpoint, the EP-3 collision brought Sino-American relations to a low ebb. The strategic partnership built up over 20 years has also been put to the test with the Bush administration's re-definition of China as a competitor. Beijing, however, considers it more beneficial to maintain cooperative and competitive relations with the US for the sake of its overall strategic considerations and domestic economic develop-ment. As a consequence, although the two have suffered as a result of a severed strategic partnership, they still maintain certain channels for dialogue so that they can avoid unnecessary misunderstandings, damage or even war.

The US focuses completely on protecting its own interests in the handling of cross-strait issues -- not on protecting the interests of Taiwan or maintaining its relations with China. It will not favor any particular side when seeking to promote peace in the Asia-Pacific region. In fact, Taiwan cannot pin too many hopes for its security on external forces, the enemy's goodwill, or even the involvement of foreign allies. It can only rely fully on its own defense capabilities.

We are certainly glad to see military-to-military exchanges and cooperation between Taiwan and the US. While hoping that the US will protect Taiwan, however, the nation should also strengthen its self-defense capabilities to maintain effective deterrence.

Taiwan needs defensive weapons, but it also needs constantly to strive to improve its overall capacity for self-defense, and to secure the international community's concern about peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait. It should also enhance its economic competitiveness and try to join more regional economic organizations and systems so that it can gain more of a say in regional security. These might be the only ways by which we can truly secure Taiwan.

Trong Chai is a DPP legislator and chairman of Formosa TV.

Translated by Eddy Chang
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