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Ma’s ‘state of peace’ does not exist
Tuesday, Aug 24, 2010, Page 8
The US Department of Defense recently released a report
entitled Military and Security Developments Involving the People’s Republic of
China, 2010. The report stated that China is continuing its military expansion
in the Taiwan Strait and has already started to consider sudden conflicts with
nations other than Taiwan.
The report said the military balance in the Taiwan Strait continues to develop
in favor of China and that the goals of China’s military expansion are extending
beyond Taiwan. China is now beginning to focus on the US and the People’s
Liberation Army is already capable of attacks deep into the Pacific Ocean and
the Indian Ocean. For the first time, the report also stated that China is
developing new military capabilities to allow it to attack US military ships
intervening in the Taiwan Strait.
This depiction of an aggressive Chinese military expansion refutes the arguments
of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), who keeps saying that the situation in the
Strait has entered an unprecedented state of peace.
While meeting with representatives from Kinmen and Matsu recently, a
self-satisfied Ma said that during his two years in office, he has worked hard
to improve cross-strait relations, adding that Taiwan and China now have signed
14 agreements and that this has brought an atmosphere of peace and prosperity to
cross-strait relations. He also said this atmosphere has extended to
international relations and improved Taiwan’s relations with other nations.
Ignoring the threat of war because of a thin veil of peace and ignoring the
missiles China has pointed at Taiwan does not mean that Ma is stupid; it shows
that he has ulterior motives.
Ma’s ideological pursuit of eventual unification permeates all his major
policies. Over the past two years, amid China’s military threats and belittling
of Taiwan, Ma has agreed to participate in international events on China’s
approval and to use the name “Chinese Taipei.” The next step is for the “two
Chinese parties,” the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist
Party (CCP), to make Taiwan — which is not part of China’s territory — a part of
China. This is why Ma doesn’t care that China’s military threat toward Taiwan
continues to increase and that Taiwan is faced with an unprecedented sovereignty
crisis.
Instead, he is immersing himself in the “cross-strait atmosphere of peace and
prosperity.”
The US is very clear on this fact. The aforementioned report stresses the point
that the US is relying on the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), when it supplies
Taiwan with weapons for self-defense purposes, to maintain cross-strait peace
and stability. The report also states that the US military would rely on global
military deployment to assist Taiwan in warding off any Chinese military actions
against Taiwan.
Compared with the way the two Chinese parties are conspiring to Taiwan’s
annexation, Washington’s stance is quite clearly the opposite. As a signatory to
the San Francisco Peace Treaty, the US knows full well that Taiwan does not
belong to the Republic of China and that it also does not belong to the People’s
Republic of China. Regardless of any common understanding between the people of
Taiwan and China, China is China and Taiwan is Taiwan. That is why the US has
always assisted Taiwan with its self-defense. We can therefore imagine that on
the one hand, the US will want to assist Taiwan to protect itself from the
Chinese threat, while also assisting Taiwan to protect itself from the Ma
administration’s tendencies to sell out Taiwan.
The US’ advocacy is in line with historical fact and international law, and it
also protects the sovereignty of Taiwan and its people. Now, with the two
Chinese parties working in collusion, Taiwanese must not only see through the
thin veil of economic benefits that hide China’s ambitions to annex Taiwan; they
must also see through the phony peace the Ma administration uses to deceive
Taiwanese into surrendering to China. Only if they insist on Taiwan’s
sovereignty and do not fall for the tricks of the two Chinese parties will the
international community have a reason to champion Taiwan and help Taiwan defend
itself. If, on the other hand, Taiwanese are tricked by the KMT and CCP’s sweet
talk to walk down the irreversible path toward Chinese annexation, there will be
no help for Taiwan even from countries that might be willing to assist.
It is worth noting that in addition to regulations about providing Taiwan with
defensive weapons, the TRA also stipulates that the US must protect the safety
of Taiwanese and the abilities of its socioeconomic system from anyone who may
resort to military force or other forceful means. In other words, the US also
opposes the way the two Chinese parties are trying to use underhanded means to
impose compulsory changes to Taiwan’s socioeconomic system to meet their goal of
unification by economic means.
If we also look at this from a strategic perspective and from the geopolitics of
the region spanning from Northeast Asia to the South China Sea, we see that the
entire balance of power would change greatly if Taiwan was annexed by China. The
Western Pacific interests of the US and the shared interests of affected
democratic nations would all be harmed. It is therefore safe to say that Ma’s
China-leaning policies will be brought under control eventually.
The current cross-strait situation is not the atmosphere of peace and prosperity
that Ma is talking about. Rather, the situation is what the US warned against in
its report: an atmosphere of major potential conflict. Additionally, Beijing’s
great advances in its capability to invade Taiwan are only one aspect of China’s
moves to gain regional dominance and more sway in the global economy. As a
result, the US recently has started to make military preparations in the East
Asian region to handle a situation where China’s ambitions could break out in
open action.
If Ma is led by nationalistic considerations in such a strategic conflict and
insists on latching Taiwan onto China, he will only be digging a grave for the
KMT’s alien regime. It is essential that the public warns Ma of its disapproval
of his China-leaning policies and uses its vote to uphold democracy, as well as
to avoid falling into the trap set up by the two Chinese parties.
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