Since about 1990, China has risen to become the “world’s factory” largely due to its cheap labor force.
With countries the world over having economic interests in China and Western nations adopting an appeasement policy toward Beijing, the global community has turned a blind eye to China’s bullying of Taiwan.
Instead, the nation, which has suffered at the hands of China’s aggression, has often been called a “troublemaker” for showing the slightest sign of protest or opposition.
What preposterous thinking. Taiwan has not had the energy to make trouble, as keeping China’s intimidation at bay has been a full-time endeavor. The global community’s acquiescence of China’s bullying and stigmatization has only dealt a second blow to Taiwan’s plight.
Fortunately, since former US president Donald Trump abolished Washington’s appeasement policy and took a firm stand against China on its malign policies, things finally starting looking better for Taiwan. Having long been pegged as a troublemaker, Taiwan received its delayed justice and proved Confucius’ (孔子) adage true: “Virtue never stands alone; it is bound to have neighbors.”
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Taiwan was finally approached, acknowledged and embraced by several other democratic countries. Its relations with the US, Japan, the Czech Republic, the Netherlands, Lithuania and Slovakia have improved based on trust and partnership, with each collaboration entering mutually beneficial cycles. For the past two years, democratic countries have come to see Taiwan as an invaluable ally instead of a troublemaker.
On the other hand, according to an article by British tabloid the Daily Mail on June 18, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus — who maintains that all hypotheses regarding the origin of COVID-19 must remain on the table — confided to a senior European politician that the most likely explanation was a catastrophic accident at a laboratory in Wuhan, China, leading to the outbreak of the virus in late 2019.
If that is true, China would be the biggest culprit for wreaking havoc on global health systems, the economy, tourism and transportation, as it would not only be a troublemaker, but a world-class one.
Further, soon after US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi left Taiwan after a 19-hour visit on Wednesday last week, Beijing announced six exclusion zones encircling Taiwan to hold live-fire drills from Thursday to Sunday.
The move has been more than a full-blown intimidation and retaliation against Taiwan, as it also blocks one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes for Beijing’s selfish reasons.
The barbaric move has forced container ships to take other routes, airlines to cancel flights and shipping companies to change itineraries. Aside from Taiwanese companies, numerous shipping and freight companies and passengers worldwide fell victim to China’s imperious act.
The international community has condemned China’s military intimidation. Beijing fired 11 Dongfeng ballistic missiles into the waters off Taiwan and announced that “the entire live-fire training mission has been successfully completed, and the relevant air and sea area control is now lifted,” even though it did not end the drills.
Now that China has revealed its scathing nature and jingoistic hawkishness to the world, the world has good reason to believe that China is public enemy No. 1. With its relentless saber-rattling, there is no way China could get away without being labeled as a “world-class troublemaker” this time.
Chang Kuo-tsai is a retired associate professor of National Hsinchu University of Education.
Translated by Rita Wang
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