Beijing aims to annex Taiwan and reshape the international order, National Security Council Secretary-General Joseph Wu (吳釗燮) and Jamestown Foundation president Peter Mattis told an international forum in Taipei yesterday.
The premise for US-Chinese interaction and co-commitment to peace dissolved with the end of the Cold War and both sides are now locked in an institutional struggle, Mattis said at the International Conference on US-China Strategic Competition in 2025: Implications for China and Cross-Strait Relations organized by the Mainland Affairs Council.
Both sides are fighting skirmishes on a global scale, he said in his segment, titled “The Illusion of Stability in the Taiwan Strait.”
Photo: Tien Yu-hua, Taipei Times
Taiwanese have the right to self-determination regardless of how Taiwan’s status is viewed by the international community, but the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is trying to deprive them of that right, as it does not even recognize that Chinese have the right to choose their own future, Mattis said.
Taiwan was too slow to increase its national defense spending and had been inefficient in using the funds, he said, adding that Taiwan poorly understood the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA).
Young Taiwanese are uninterested in the CCP, “but the CCP is very interested in you,” he said.
Taiwan should be looking into defense collaborations with the US, and should consider similar collaborations with the EU, Mattis said.
Where Taiwan is short on funds, it could make up for it with intelligence about China, as both sides speak Mandarin, he said.
Wu said that Taiwan is not the only target in Beijing’s sights, and Chinese threats to Taiwan are direct threats to global peace.
The PLA’s influence has already spread beyond the first island chain, he said, citing a PLA exercise near Australia this year as an example.
States within the first island chain are facing the possibility of war because of the PLA, Wu said.
Taiwan plans to increase its defense spending from 3 percent of GDP this year to 5 percent by 2030, and has updated its Han Kuang exercises to show the public that the military can protect them in times of war, he said.
China is more interested in expansionism than solving its own pressing economic and social issues, he said.
“Even though we see worrisome trends in the Chinese economy, the news these days is not how the PRC [People’s Republic of China] leadership [is] coming up with good or big packages to bring their economy up from the slump, it’s about the purge of top PLA generals,” he said.
Last week, ahead of its plenum, China announced that two top military leaders had been expelled from the party and the military on corruption charges, the most senior officers to be purged in an anti-graft drive that began in 2023.
Wu also mentioned the scenes from last month’s military parade in Beijing held by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) to mark the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II.
“The footage of the Sept. 3 military parade gave an impression of China still seeking global dominance, not solving domestic economic and social problems. This doesn’t make too much sense to me,” he said.
Hudson Institute researcher Walter Russell Mead said that the US belief that a strong economy would foster democracy had evidently not been the case with China.
The US must find other methods, as its previous policy has not been successful, Mead said.
In addition, under US President Donald Trump, the US is no longer taking the lead in resolving global conflicts, he said.
Compared with NATO, Trump evidently prefers allies such as Israel, as it is willing to commit to national defense, he said, adding that Trump would like to see a change in its relationship with nations such as Japan, which uses the US’ Aegis Combat System, but still maintains close economic ties with China.
Although meaningful talks on the Taiwan issue are unlikely with China, Trump would not relent on matters of US interests, while Xi must uphold the propaganda currently spread in China, Mead said.
Additional reporting by Reuters
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