Taiwan is like Prague in 1938 facing Adolf Hitler; only if Taiwan remains free and democratic would the world be safe, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) said in an interview with Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.
The ministry on Saturday said Corriere della Sera is one of Italy’s oldest and most read newspapers, frequently covers European economic and political issues, and that Wu agreed to an interview with the paper’s senior political analyst Massimo Franco in Taipei on Jan. 3.
The interview was published on Jan. 26 with the title “Taiwan like Prague in 1938 with Hitler,” the ministry said.
Photo: Lin Cheng-kun, Taipei Times
Wu said Taiwan is not like the “Ukraine of Asia,” but rather like “the Asian Czechoslovakia” before World War II.
The 1938 Munich Agreement — in which Western powers let Germany annex a region of Czechoslovakia — was what allowed Hitler to invade Europe, he added.
At the time, Czechoslovakia was the fifth-largest industrial power in Europe and the 10th globally, and by taking over its industries, Nazi Germany was able to pay the costs of starting the war, Wu said.
“This is what China wants to do with Taiwan. Take over its production of semiconductors, of which today 90 percent are built here, and change the world,” the newspaper quoted Wu as saying.
The ministry believes that only by pointing out the danger and accepting the challenge can an “Asian version of the Munich Pact” be avoided, the newspaper said.
“It is not true that if we give in to China and accept unification there will be no war. If anything, it’s the opposite,” it quoted Wu as saying. “If Taiwan remains part of the free world, the world is safe. Otherwise, we will head towards a world conflict.”
For example, China claimed that the Pacific Ocean was wide enough to host two superpowers, while claiming the Senkaku Islands — known as the Diaoyutais (釣魚台) in Taiwan — from Japan, competing with the Philippines’ fishing boats using naval vessels and continuing border skirmishes with India, Wu said.
“And let’s not forget what it [China] did in Hong Kong, tearing up the treaty [which promised the protection of Hong Kong’s basic freedoms, the rule of law, human rights and way of life for at least 50 years — until 2047] that it had signed,” Wu said. “Taiwan is not Hong Kong and does not want to become like Hong Kong.”
Wu described Taiwan’s status using the Latin phrase sui generis, or “of its own kind,” adding that although the nation only has 12 diplomatic allies, it maintains substantive relations with more than 100 countries and that the nation “exists as an industrial reality.”
“If Taiwan blows up, the entire factory of the world would blow up in a week. We exist as an alternative China, based on the values of democracy and freedom,” he said, referring to the production and technological power of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co.
However, the problem is convincing Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) of Taiwan’s autonomy and independence, Wu said.
Although the nation hopes that “when he [Xi] shaves in the morning, he will understand that it is not the right day to invade Taiwan,” they must prepare for the worst, he added.
Wu also outlined three guidelines of Taiwan’s preparation.
First is “developing defensive capability,” he said, adding that Taiwan’s defense budget has increased by 80 percent in the past eight years.
Second is “building credibility with the free world,” Wu said.
Countries including Australia, Japan, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, the UK and the US have sent ships through the Taiwan Strait recently to send a message to China to “be careful,” he added.
Third is “to make the safety of the Taiwan Strait not just a regional issue, but an international issue,” he said.
Taiwan would play a key role in helping US President Donald Trump fulfill his “Make America Great Again” promise, Wu said, adding that Trump’s selection of former US senator Marco Rubio — a great friend of Taiwan — as US secretary of state and the large number of personnel staffed at the American Institute in Taiwan are signs of Taipei’s overall strategic importance to the US.
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