Wed, Apr 10, 2002 page8

• Identity crisis is damaging to alliances

  • By Vincent Lin 林文政
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  During a recent conference in Taipei, Gerrit Gong (江文漢), director of China studies at the US-based Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), raised a very important question weighing on the minds of some of Washington's military strategists: Does Taiwan have the ability and the willingness to defend itself?

  Not only do foreign think tanks and scholars have this concern; many opinion leaders in Taipei have reportedly been asked about this issue by US officials and congressmen.

  If the US fights with China, which side will Taiwan take? Recent changes in Taiwan give the US reasons to ponder. The anxiety is not without basis.

  On the issue of US arms sales, Taiwan's society remains divid-ed. The defection of former National Security Bureau (NSB) chief cashier Liu Kuan-chun (劉冠軍) and the former chief of the bureau's personnel department, Major-General Pan Hsi-hsien (潘希賢), may have been isolated cases resulting from the transfer of power. But the continual leakage of confidential information from the NSB to opposition parties, the media and even to foreign countries clearly indicates that there are serious problems with the loyalty of Taiwan's military intelligence agencies.

  This problem needs to be addressed, as do the strategic conflicts between the two main national security agencies, the National Security Council (NSC)and the Ministry of National Defense.

  For example, Minister of National Defense Tang Yao-ming (湯曜明) recently expressed his opposition to the potential use of nuclear weapons by the US in the Strait. This unexpected proclamation by Tang caught the NSC off guard and could potentially hurt cooperation between the US and Taiwan.

  The chaos in national security affairs, strategies and policies reflects the conflict between unification and independence ideologies. Individuals' views on Taiwan's relationships with China and the US are almost always colored by their views on independence.

  If the military and intelligence personnel cannot understand what they are working toward, no wonder the public and Tai-wan's allies feel anxious. The US-Taiwan alliance is not a legally-binding, permanent agreement, so should Taiwan one day reunify with China, for example, the arms that the US has sold Taiwan could fall into Beijing's hands.

  No wonder the US government is so concerned about which side Taiwan is taking. If Taiwan is forced to take sides between China and the US, every person in Taiwan, especially the politicians, must ask themselves this question: Which side can help preserve Taiwan's existing and future economic prosperity, as well as safeguard the country's current democratic way of life and maintain the respect for the rule of law and human rights? The answer is clear; China can do none of these things.

  To resolve these problems of confidence, Taiwan must ad-dress three issues. First, it must resolve the identity crisis. If Taiwan continues to expend its time and strength on the unification-independence dispute, internal political unrest and economic chaos will follow.

  Next, the government must use the recent NSB security leak as a rationale to reform the military intelligence system.

  Finally, coordination between the Presidential Office, Executive Yuan, MND and the NSC needs to be strengthened to avoid surprising statements on major policies.

  If President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) cannot overcome these problems, chaos is inevitable. Who can blame Taiwan's allies for questioning Taipei's commitment to its alliances?

  Vincent Lin is the deputy editor-in-chief of the Taipei Times.
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