US ‘all talk’ on Taiwan
The US has stated its interest in cross-strait relations. However, I would submit that the policies of the current US administration have not contributed to stability in the Taiwan Strait in that they weakened Taiwan’s defensive capabilities. To put it bluntly, the US has been “all talk and no do.”
Whereas the Pentagon has a genuine concern for Taiwan, I doubt that concern is replicated by US President Barack Obama’s administration, which seems to favor an appeasement approach where China and Taiwan are concerned, possibly indicating a belief on Obama’s part that Taiwan is expendable. Thankfully, it is a view not held by all members of his party or by any Republicans.
All this raises questions about future regional relations. The US is likely to act in what it perceives as its own best interests.
One would hope that Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and the Philippines could submerge their relatively minor differences and cooperate on a meaningful defense strategy for the region. Such an alliance would be a formidable deterrent to Communist Chinese expansionism. It would also be helpful if these nations admitted the obvious; that the fictional “one China” policy is a hindrance to cooperation and should be discarded.
Gavan Duffy
Australia
Hung’s words are inaccurate
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) presidential candidate Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱) said the KMT “led its people to victory in the eight-year war of resistance against Japan.”
Defeating Japan was a joint effort of the KMT, former Chinese leader Mao Zedong’s (毛澤東) communists and the Allies. Japan left China after they surrendered, which was after the US dropped its nuclear bombs. One could argue it was actually the US that defeated Japan and drove it out of China. In fact, US General Joseph Stilwell, known as “Vinegar Joe,” who read and spoke Mandarin fluently and commanded Chinese troops, said of former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石): “China’s problem is that its leader is an illiterate superstitious peasant.”
Hung said the KMT “raised Taiwan from the wretched colony it was.”
It was wrong for Japan to occupy Taiwan. It was right for Japan to leave Taiwan. However, while here, Japan built railroads and electrified the island. Taiwan was not a wretched colony. The KMT was another foreign occupier who imposed the White Terror era on Taiwan. The difference between the KMT and Japan is that Japan left and the KMT has become a part of Taiwan.
Hung said the KMT “headed the Taiwanese economic miracle, helped the nation win worldwide respect through its democracy and consolidated cross-strait peace.”
Taiwan’s democracy and economic miracle are a result of the work of opposition activists and their supporters that the KMT imprisoned during the White Terror era. The KMT eventually enacted policies that improved Taiwan’s economy and brought free democratic multiparty elections because they saw the writing on the wall. They knew that the people of Taiwan would eventually rise up against the KMT.
Hung said “the biggest threats are egregious political infighting and populism, which have stalled Taiwan’s development, incited disorder, disrupted society and left people baffled.”
Populism is democracy. Disorder, disruption and chaos are all inherent in a democratic society; they are inherent to freedom. Taking away people’s rights in order to prevent disorder and disruption is what the People’s Republic of China has touted since the KMT left China. Hung sounds like a Chinese communist.
Andres Chang
Taipei
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