US President Donald Trump has paused his “reciprocal” tariffs for 90 days — for every country except China, levies on which have soared. Trump’s aim to encircle China is obvious, and Beijing is scrambling to find an escape.
Last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) hastily embarked on the first leg of his Southeast Asia tour. However, just days after Xi’s departure, Vietnam announced a nationwide crackdown on origin fraud and illegal transshipment, while Vietnamese Prime Minister Pham Minh Chinh said his nation has a “unique bond” with the US.
Elsewhere, Cambodia allowed two Japanese warships to dock at Ream Naval Base, a facility upgraded with Chinese funds. Malaysia Airlines views China’s boycott of Boeing as an opportunity to jump the line, with hopes of quickly acquiring any jets that become available should Chinese airlines stop taking deliveries.
International experts speculate that China, finding itself at the end of its rope, might resort to desperate measures. However, Xi’s major purge of the military would inevitably limit China’s capability to launch an invasion of Taiwan.
As a result, China is bound to intensify its infiltration tactics and cognitive warfare efforts against Taiwan. By exploiting the confused national identity of some Taiwanese — formed as a result of the former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) regime’s party-state education system — China aims to sow internal discord, in hopes of disrupting Taiwan without armed conflict.
President William Lai (賴清德) last month announced 17 strategies to counter the Chinese Communist Party’s growing infiltration efforts against Taiwan. As a result, the Ministry of Education on Monday last week announced it was developing educational materials designed to reinforce students’ Taiwanese identity and enhance awareness of the threat from China.
The measures are in part a response to multiple reports of elementary and high-school teachers telling students that Taiwan is a part of China, and that Taiwanese are Chinese.
Taiwan’s bureaucratic government is notorious for its slow response to severe national challenges, leaving plans in the research phase for months or years with policy formulation often delayed or revised repeatedly. Now, in the face of national security threats, the education ministry has stepped up to the plate following Lai’s directive and launched its own initiative.
However, some in Taiwan with a confused sense of national identity have raised objections to the move, going so far as to call the policy unconstitutional. The reality is that Taiwan is simply making use of the empty shell that is the Republic of China (ROC) and its Constitution — a framework it is bound to shed eventually.
Even before that happens, the ministry’s policy has absolutely no constitutional issues. Article 4 of the Constitution of the Republic of China states that “the territory of the Republic of China according to its existing national boundaries shall not be altered except by resolution of the National Assembly.” It only says “existing national boundaries” — it does not stipulate what those boundaries are.
With regard to the ROC, the current consensus is that the “ROC, Taiwan” consists of the existing national boundaries within which former president Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) and his military fled, establishing a new ruling government. As former president Lee Teng-hui’s (李登輝) quiet revolution overthrew the KMT party-state government, that territory consists of Taiwan, and Penghu, Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties.
To protect the citizens that reside in these areas, the government must do all that it can to resist the nation’s greatest threat — China. What about that is unconstitutional?
Support the Ministry of Education in doing the right thing, and doing it swiftly. China has already become the world’s public enemy No. 1, with many countries voicing opposition to it. Under no circumstances should Taiwan doom itself by tying its fate to China. However, some Taiwanese still suffer from a confused national identity. Therefore, the most urgent task must be to allow Taiwanese to recognize and understand the threat posed by China while joining the international community in resisting Beijing.
Tommy Lin is chairman of the Formosa Republican Association and director of the Taiwan United Nations Alliance.
Translated by Kyra Gustavsen
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