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Editorial: Rein in China, before it's too late

In a report submitted to the US Congress on Friday, the Pentagon raised doubts about China's promise to resolve the Taiwan issue peacefully. The report said China is threatening Taiwan in a variety of ways, including the deployment of short-range ballistic missiles -- currently numbering 350 and increasing by 50 per year -- and the purchase of submarines from Russia. These military modernization moves are also posing a threat to the US military and the entire Asia-Pacific region, the report said.

On the same day, President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) told a joint graduation ceremony for Taiwan's five military academies that China has never renounced its intent to eradicate the ROC and annex Taiwan. Given China's ability and intent to violate Taiwan, the people of Taiwan should prepare for the worst, Chen said. He also noted that the Beijing has used its economic clout in recent years to dramatically raise its military power. Taiwan needs to remain on alert as long as China does not renounce the use of force against it, Chen said.

Both the Pentagon report and Chen's speech reflect the contents of another report that is scheduled to be released today by the US Congress' US-China Security Review Commission. The commission is responsible for reviewing the national security implications of trade and economic ties between the US and China. Its report is expected to warn that China is using its massive economic and strategic interests to tackle the US and that Washington should take tougher actions to counter Beijing's military and economic threats, as military modernization will allow China to export weapons to countries that sponsor terrorism and to expand its influence in the Asia-Pacific region.

China is not only putting the US' security interests in the Asia-Pacific region at risk, but is also becoming the godfather of what Washington calls "rogue states." How Taiwan should protect itself and continue to prosper in the face of threats from such a country is a question that every person should think about seriously.

The similarity in evaluations from the US and Taiwan indicate that the two countries share the same basic values -- a belief in safeguarding freedom and democracy and a belief in the capitalist system. If Washington and Taipei had not joined hands to defend these values over the last 50 years, there would not be a Taiwan as it exists today.

The crux of the tensions across the Taiwan Strait and in the Asia-Pacific region today is China's behavior, not the actions of Taiwan. Beijing is also the main obstacle to the resumption of cross-strait dialogue. Today, the last remaining communist empire is still unwilling to remove its communist signboard, give up its habit of wantonly engaging in military aggression and join the international community as a normal country.

Most countries in the free world are worried exactly because China is not a normal country. It continues to use every means possible to incite nationalistic sentiments exactly because it is not a free and democratic country. The Chinese government is using nationalism to shield communism, which its people have lost faith in. Nationalism has become the last life jacket for the Beijing regime.

The free world should ponder on how to educate the Chinese leadership about the universal values of freedom and democracy so that China can become a responsible citizen of the world as soon as possible.
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