Ever since Taiwan became a democracy, a contest between political forces has played out every four years. The next presidential and legislative elections are set for Jan. 13 next year. A peculiar feature this time is the emergence toward the end of last year of an election theme along the lines of “a choice between war and peace.”
The advent of this subject likely has to do with the 20th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), held in October last year, when an “imperial” system allowing Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to remain in office indefinitely was approved.
This year, that sensitive catchphrase is being heard more frequently.
The latest wave of “a choice between war and peace” likely originated from the opening report that Xi read at the congress on Oct. 26 last year.
While speaking of Taiwan, Xi said: “We will continue to strive for peaceful reunification with the greatest sincerity and the utmost effort, but we will never promise to renounce the use of force, and we reserve the option of taking all measures necessary. This is directed solely at interference by outside forces and the few separatists seeking Taiwanese independence and their separatist activities.”
This theme was brought up the next day at a forum in Taiwan, where speakers asserted that Taiwan faces a choice between war and peace. The crossover of this notion from academia to politics probably took place on the eve of the local elections in November last year, when Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Vice Chairman Sean Lien (連勝文) said that next year’s election would be a contest between war and peace, and that a vote for the KMT would be a vote for peace.
Former president and former KMT chairman Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) made a similar assertion during an New Year’s Day event. Since then, pan-blue legislators and political commentators have been preaching that message, and just a few days ago one of the contenders vying for the KMT presidential nomination gave a speech on the subject. Evidently, the KMT has adopted “war and peace” as one of its catchphrases.
The worst thing about this proposition of “a choice between war and peace” is that it plays the intimidation card. In a democracy, parties and politicians should serve the public. This means that politicians are public servants and the public is their masters. How can someone applying for the job of a servant say something like: “If you don’t employ me, you will live to regret it,” or “Your next-door neighbor will kill you?”
Public opinion, which has remained stable for more than a decade, shows that 23 million Taiwanese cherish peace, but if they are forced to choose between being ruled by the CCP or defending themselves by force, the majority would reject the former and support the latter.
Furthermore, the proportion of Taiwanese who support defending their way of life keeps growing. In such circumstances, if any politician or political parties think they can use the threat of war to scare people into accepting the CCP and that this would help them to win more votes, they are sorely mistaken.
Tzou Jiing-wen is editor-in-chief of the Liberty Times (the Taipei Times’ sister paper).
Translated by Julian Clegg
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