The plans of Western governments to recognize Palestinian statehoodwhile failing to recognize Taiwan is hypocrisy, Vincent Chen (陳建志), a Taiwan Thinktank and Foundation for Future Generations advisory board member, said in an opinion piece published on Thursday by the Washington Post.
The stance of the Western states that have announced they would recognize Palestine confer legitimacy on something that “legally speaking, doesn’t yet exist” and they are “doing so to constrain Israel’s ability to intervene,” Chen said.
However, the West is not doing the same for Taipei regarding China, he said.
Photo: CNA
Taiwan meets the criteria of statehood, with a population of 23 million people, independent legislative, executive and judicial branches of government, a professional military, a national currency and representative offices in dozens of countries, Chen said, citing Article 1 of the Montevideo Convention.
Taiwan’s GDP is set to surpass US$800 billion, it has a Freedom House score of 94 out of 100, and its government is ranked 12th in the world for democratization and top in Asia, he said, adding that Taiwan is known for its international humanitarian, medical, educational and agricultural contributions.
By contrast, “insofar as a coherent Palestinian entity can be identified,” it is politically divided, unstable and has no defined borders, he said.
Since 2012 Palestine has held non-member observer status at the UN, while Taiwan is excluded from the UN system and forced to use the name “Chinese Taipei,” Chen said.
“By recognizing one entity and not the other, Western leaders are signaling to Beijing that their commitment to Taipei should not be taken too seriously,” he said.
That Western democracies do not recognize Taiwan reflects a “failure of political courage” and the hesitance stems not from doubts that Taiwan deserves recognition, but fear of “economic retaliation from China,” he said.
If China were to invade Taiwan and call it an “internal matter,” the West’s ability to oppose it from a legal and political standpoint would be hobbled, Chen said.
Protecting Taiwan is essential, as 90 percent of the world’s most advanced semiconductors — which are critical to military systems, artificial intelligence development, healthcare and global supply chains — are produced in Taiwan, he said.
Ambiguity on Taiwan’s status is “no longer geopolitically viable,” he said, citing the rising sentiment in Japan that “Taiwan’s security is Japan’s security,” as well as Canadian, German and French ships conducting freedom of navigation operations in the Taiwan Strait as examples of growing international support for the nation.
The US also backs Taiwan, he said.
US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth in May told the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore that “any attempt by communist China to conquer Taiwan by force would result in devastating consequences for the Indo-Pacific and the world,” Chen said.
Hegseth told the forum that “if deterrence fails ... we are prepared to do what the Department of Defense does best — fight and win — decisively,” Chen added.
If the international community can “consider recognizing as unqualified a candidate as Palestine,” surely it could “do the same for the far more developed democracy in Taiwan,” he said.
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