The US is considering delivering to Taiwan 120 advanced AIM-120 air-to-air missiles that Taiwan has paid for but are being stored in the US. Beijing is unhappy about this and has protested to the US.
Now we have to ask: can the missiles guarantee Taiwan's security? The devastating power of these missiles was demonstrated during the Gulf War and in the Balkans -- winning plaudits from the pilots that used them. But will possession of the missiles allow the people Taiwan to sleep soundly at night?
Today, after two bloody world wars and a long, cruel Cold War in the past century, many people generally believe that more advanced weaponry is not the only solution to international disputes. The US has the world's most advanced weapons, but it was unable to prevent the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on Sept. 11. Nor was it able to stop an attack at Los Angeles International Airport in which three people died and seven were injured. Free and democratic Taiwan is absolutely no match for authoritarian China when it comes to arms.
Since an arms race can't solve all the problems between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, Taipei should seek other solutions. Instead of spending massive amounts of money on advanced weaponry, it should invest in local development and improving the lives of the people. The government should have an overall plan for local development. It should make contingency plans in ad-vance instead of trying to dig a well only when it becomes thirsty.
More reservoirs should be built to ensure that Taiwan always has adequate supplies of water. Water, electricity and transportation are indispensable commodities for modern industry. By spending money on construction instead of on weapons purchases, Taiwan can keep many of its local industries at home and attract foreign investment, thereby increasing job opportunities and improving the people's livelihood.
Ethnic harmony and unity are the best guarantees of Taiwan's security. If all the people of Taiwan are truly united and in harmony, China will not be able to find any loophole to exploit, nor will it dare to make foolish moves and harass Taiwan. For the sake of everyone's security and wel-fare, I hope that politicians will stop provoking ethnic confrontations just to attract votes to satisfy their political cravings. Such behavior is selfish, immoral and not motivated by love for Taiwan.
Many people in China place great hope in Taiwan. They envy Taiwan's democracy, freedom and state of economic development. They also envy the affluent lives of its people. They have always had good feelings toward the Taiwanese.
However, certain short-sighted politicians in Taiwan have been promoting a kind of exclusive love for Taiwan. They equate loving Taiwan with de-Sinicization and localization. They even refuse to admit that they are Chinese. This will cause people in China to lose their envy and positive feelings for the people of Taiwan. It will even cause them to turn such envy and good feelings into contempt and enmity, making them believe that the Taiwanese are sinners who are selling out the country and the Chinese people.
This would be a frightening change. In the past, if Beijing had launched a military attack on Taiwan, Chinese people would at least have disagreed in their hearts even though they would not have dared oppose it openly. They might even have put up some passive resistance and tried to secretly help Taiwan. If Beijing had sent troops to invade Taiwan, many of its soldiers might have defected to Taiwan in search of freedom.
Now, if Beijing used the pretext that Taiwan was selling out the country and the Chinese people to launch an attack, inspiring nationalistic and patriotic sentiments in its soldiers, their morale would then rise manifold and become irresistible.
In fact, Taiwan has not been ruled by communist China for a single day. Taiwan has her own Constitution, government, armed forces, domestic affairs, foreign relations and economic system.
Taiwan does not need to declare independence. It only needs to maintain the status quo. Taiwan can then demand democracy, freedom, human rights guarantees, an end to one-party rule, guarantees for private poverty and so on from China as preconditions for negotiations on unification.
All these are conditions for which people in China are longing and which will therefore certainly gain their support. These conditions are potentially vastly more useful than any modern weapons -- they are what Beijing fears the most.
Moreover, they are just and righteous. People and countries that cherish democracy, freedom, human rights, justice and peace will certainly sympathize with us and support us. Only then can we have a place to ourselves in the international community and open up new diplomatic space.
I hope those in power will not put blind faith in advanced modern weapons. Rather, they should use wisdom and diplomatic skills as well as universal values such as democracy, freedom, human rights and peace as their weapons to safeguard Tai-wan's security and resolve cross-strait problems.
Paul Shan is a Roman Catholic cardinal based in Kaohsiung.
Translated by Francis Huang
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