From a Taiwanese perspective, the Chinese word tong zhan (統戰) could be interpreted as the war — or effort — to achieve unification. However, this interpretation would have more to do with the unique preoccupations of a threatened nation than with historical accuracy.
The accepted English translation is “united front.” It was born of the collective desire of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to defeat warlords in China in the 1920s. In its current iteration, it is a network of organizations affiliated with the CCP, engaging in political warfare to promote Beijing’s interests and global narrative, and suppress discussions of ideas it deems unfavorable. It is an organized, comprehensive effort to achieve the CCP’s desired ends.
It is no wonder that Taiwanese might interpret the term as specifically referring to unification, but its scope extends far beyond China’s intentions for Taiwan. It is a global mission that includes industrial espionage, political infiltration, manipulation of academic environments, and the strangulation of freedoms of thought and expression, a task that has only been made easier by technological advances, social media platforms, and the ubiquity of channels to disseminate disinformation and to surveil China’s population, not only within its own borders, but also overseas.
US President Joe Biden has arrived at the conclusion not only that the CCP represents the biggest challenge to US dominance and national security, but that any effort to counter China’s rise would require more than mounting a whole-of-government, united response from the US alone: It would require a united front of global and regional allies, relying on soft power rather than the threat, coercion and manipulation preferred by Beijing.
The Biden administration has hit the ground running to try to achieve that. On Friday last week, the US participated in a virtual summit of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue comprising the US, Australia, Japan and India, in what was the first-ever leader-level summit of the group. The joint statement at the end of the summit, describing the “spirit of the Quad,” said: “We strive for a region that is free, open, inclusive, healthy, anchored by democratic values and unconstrained by coercion.”
China was not specified in that sentence, but it did not need to be.
On Tuesday, US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Japanese Minister of Foreign Affairs Toshimitsu Motegi and Japanese Minister of Defense Nobuo Kishi for “two-plus-two” talks with an ally the US sees as crucial to shoring up a united show of strength against China in the region.
However, Biden will need a wider alliance, and this is where the challenge of building a united front against China will be. He needs to differentiate the offerings of the US from those of China and to counter the economic reality that China is the principal trading partner for many US allies.
It is a task complicated by doubts planted in capitals worldwide by former US president Donald Trump’s unashamed unilateral and transactional approach to foreign policy, and the possibility of a return to that when Biden leaves office.
If the main purpose of these meetings was discussing how to counter China, Japan is on board for historical and geopolitical reasons; Australia for reasons of national and economic security; and India due to territorial disputes and the risk of China siding with its rivals, in particular Pakistan, but also Sri Lanka.
For Taiwan, the calculus is easy, because the threat posed by China is clear, present and existential. If it comes down to a battle of ideas and values, Taiwan exemplifies an alternative to what the CCP offers — a vibrant democracy committed to human rights and progressive values.
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