Former Ukrainian parliamentarian Hanna Hopko, who chaired the Ukrainian parliament’s Committee on Foreign Affairs from 2014 to 2019, during her visit to Taiwan in May blasted those who said Ukraine should not arm itself and instead should sign a peace treaty.
Emphasizing that it is impossible to safeguard democracy without weapons, she said if Ukraine gave up on strengthening its capability and sought to sign a peace treaty with Russia, it could not save itself from the aggression of an authoritarian country and could end up in a hell-like “massacre.”
The pro-Russia camp in Ukraine tried to undermine the country’s national defense, discourage people from resisting and persuade people to accept Moscow’s “goodwill.”
The pro-China camp in Taiwan is attempting similar things. Pro-China people are trying to prevent the nation from bolstering its defense capabilities. They have even tried to destroy the foundations that former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and President William Lai (賴清德) laid for Taiwan’s defense autonomy.
Their primary target is the indigenous defense submarine (IDS) plan which could limit the Chinese military.
Taiwan’s first domestically made submarine named Hai Kun (海鯤) was launched in September last year.
Despite how “unreasonable” it is, the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) should respond reasonably because it is part of what KMT Chairman Eric Chu (朱立倫) called the “2D strategy” — defense and dialogue.
However, the KMT has been reacting weirdly from the very beginning. Former KMT legislator Wu Sz-huai (吳斯懷), a retired lieutenant general, made disparaging comments about the launch. KMT Legislator Ma Wen-chun (馬文君) was accused of leaking confidential information about the submarine to China. Then-Taipei city councilor Hsu Chiao-hsin (徐巧芯), now a KMT legislator, was also allegedly involved in an information leak case.
Some in the KMT said they would investigate Huang Shu-kuang (黃曙光), the convener of the IDS program, if the KMT and the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) were to assume office.
More recently, KMT legislators have delivered another bombshell. The Ministry of National Defense had budgeted NT$1.9 billion (US$58.56 million) for the third phase of its indigenous submarine program, but Hsu proposed slashing the budget by NT$1.7 billion, a 90 percent cut, leaving just NT$200 million, while Ma and Huang Jen (黃仁) have proposed cutting the budget entirely.
The KMT and the TPP were unrestrained when they proposed cutting the military budget and tried to undermine the nation’s defense capability.
In 2004, then-president Chen Shui-bian’s (陳水扁) government, which had a legislative minority, proposed a special arms procurement budget that was blocked by the opposition 69 times.
Taiwan could have started earlier to build its own submarines and bolster its asymmetric warfare capabilities. Thanks to the opposition parties, progress was postponed for 20 years.
The same old trick is again being used by the pro-China camp in the legislature. Facing China’s military threat and expansionism, Taiwan certainly does not have another 20 years to waste.
Regarding the nation’s defense projects such as the IDS plan, the only one who should be unhappy about it is the neighboring country that is trying to annihilate Taiwan.
Why do the KMT and the TPP repeatedly try to undermine Taiwan’s defense capability?
Unscrupulous politicians who are willing to be the pawns of the Chinese Communist Party will eventually be judged by history.
Jethro Wang is a former secretary at the Mainland Affairs Council.
Translated by Fion Khan
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