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The Liberty Times
Editorial: Ma’s ‘reconciliation of the century’
A military base on Kinmen, once called the “anti--communist sentry,” was
recently attacked — an occurrence that was completely unexpected. A volunteer
serviceman surnamed Chang (張) who was upset with a punishment given to him by
his superiors reportedly had nine friends and relatives attack the camp. As a
result, nine soldiers and officers, including a second lieutenant, were injured.
Those involved have been arrested and the military will investigate the
incident, but Kinmen, which in the past has been described as strong as steel,
can no longer stop even a few rascals. This raises the question: Could these
soldiers resist an attack by China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA)?
This incident is just the tip of the iceberg. For more than three years, many
serious disciplinary breaches have occurred in the military, sometimes even
involving senior officers. One incident involved former general Lo Hsien-che
(羅賢哲), who shared secret information about Taiwanese and US military cooperation
with China, causing great danger to national security.
If an army becomes undisciplined, it naturally follow that its morale and
ability to fight will deteriorate. Why is it, then, that under the “wise”
leadership of President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九), military discipline and power have
become so poor?
The answer is simple: Ma, the commander of the navy, army and air force, lacks a
central guiding idea and, as a result, the military no longer know what and whom
they are fighting for.
In all honesty, Ma from time to time “reminds” the military that China still
poses a threat to Taiwan and that it needs to strengthen its capabilities.
However, when the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) was in opposition, Ma blocked
any arms procurement deal he could, and since he came into office, he has done
everything possible to save money on weapons purchases.
However, he has been enthusiastic about working with China on fabricating a
so-called “1992 consensus,” promoting the “one China” principle and pushing the
idea that Taiwan is part of China. These actions make it hard for the military
to know whether China is an enemy or not. Subordinates will follow the lead of
their superiors and it is therefore little wonder that some retired generals
have had heart-to-heart talks with PLA leaders, saying: “We should no longer
make a distinction between the Republic of China [ROC] Armed Forces and the PLA.
We are all Chinese troops.” When they see Ma boasting about cross-strait peace
and “peace dividends,” wouldn’t the army be acting against the wishes of the
supreme commander if they continued to take the Chinese threat seriously?
Ma and other pro-China retired military generals seem to believe Beijing when it
says that the more than 1,000 missiles they have aimed at Taiwan and the
“Anti-Secession” Law — which is an attempt to find excuses to use military force
against Taiwan — are really only aimed at Taiwan’s pro-independence activists
and not at them. However, one has to wonder whether the PLA’s missiles and
bullets really have eyes. Will they suddenly just turn a corner if they are
heading at a pro-unification supporter? Of course not. Just like the men in the
recent hoodlum attack on the Kinmen base, they will hit everyone they see,
whether officer or private, pro-unification or pro-independence.
To be blunt, if China annexes Taiwan, the first people to be hit will be the
members of the pan-blue camp strongholds: military personnel, civil servants and
public school teachers. “Thought reform” would be the least of their problems;
losing their jobs and pensions would be much worse.
Sadly, Ma and his China--leaning cronies are hallucinating and have failed to
learn from what happened to China after it fell under Communist control. As a
result, they see the domestic opposition as their enemy and treat elections like
war. Conversely, China, hell-bent on annexing Taiwan, has become Ma’s best
friend while Ma and his administration have helped China advertise their
“peaceful unification” for free and placed the key to Taiwan’s economic growth
in the hands of China, establishing the material basis for eventual unification.
Even before the signing of the Economic Cooperation -Framework -Agreement, China
had seen the entire text of the agreement, while the DPP and the Taiwanese
public had no way of finding out the details of its content. It is pretty
obvious who Ma’s enemies and friends are.
Thanks to this total ignorance of China’s hostility to Taiwan, the Sun Yat-sen
Memorial Hall and the Shilin residence of Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) — longstanding
symbols of the KMT’s rule — are being used to serve Chinese tourists. These
places are selling a series of document folders called the “reconciliation of
the century.” The cover of one of these folders has the ROC flag and the Chinese
flag next to each other with images of Chiang and former Chinese leader Mao
Zedong (毛澤東) underneath. There is also a mug being sold, with a picture of Sun
Yat-sen (孫中山) with his hands on the shoulders of Chiang and Mao and the words
“Taiwan and China are one family and the peoples of Taiwan and China must work
together to create a new future” printed on it.
China keeps talking about how the ROC has ceased to exist and refuses to
renounce the use of military force against Taiwan. The idea that Taiwan and
China belong to the same family that is being hawked with the help of these
products is strikingly similar to the idea Ma is trying to hawk, that there is
only “one China,” and that each side of the Taiwan Strait is free to interpret
what this “one China” means.
TRANSLATED BY DREW CAMERON
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