|
¡@
Balance of power sees Ma aligned with
China
By James Wang ¤ý´º¥°
Saturday, Apr 17, 2010, Page 8
In 1972, before then-US president Richard Nixon¡¦s visit to China, US national
security adviser Henry Kissinger was expounding his ¡§balance of power¡¨ theory.
This saw the US working with China to keep the Soviet Union in check over the
next 15 years. Another 20 years on, the US president has changed tack, teaming
up with Russia against China.
This rotation of the triangle of relations between the three powers took place
almost 20 years later than Kissinger had predicted, but now we have US President
Barack Obama¡¦s administration concentrating once more on US-Russia relations:
They recently signed the first nuclear weapons pact between the two countries in
two decades. The US has clearly decided its best bet is to lean toward Russia to
keep China under control.
The past few years had seen the US neglect its relations with Russia in favor of
strengthening trade ties and following excessively China-leaning policies. As
China has gone from strength to strength, however, Beijing has invested heavily
in building up its military capability while ignoring international law and
grabbing resources and markets using unfair and dishonest practices. This has
aroused suspicion from other countries, and it is against this backdrop that
Obama has seen fit to repair ties with Russia as a way to prevent China from
getting too big for its boots.
China¡¦s unfair competition, and the worsening conditions it is offering foreign
investors operating there, has soured US companies¡¦ marriage of convenience with
China. Beijing¡¦s arrogant nationalism has put other countries on their guard,
too. The change in US-Russia relations over the course of the previous year has
only emphasized China¡¦s isolation on many major international issues. This shift
in the balance has forced Beijing to rethink its attitude, and to gradually take
a more cooperative stance on things such as the nuclear questions in Iran and
North Korea, as well as the revaluation of the yuan. Nor did Chinese President
Hu Jintao (JÀAÀÜ) dare stay away from the Nuclear Security Summit earlier this
week in Washington.
The first shift in the balance of power between the three put paid to the myth
long harbored by Chiang Kai-shek (½±¤¶¥Û) of a unified China under his auspices as
Taiwan¡¦s interests were sold down the river to secure a united front between
China and the US against Russia. This did not have Chiang or his successor,
Chiang Ching-kuo (½±¸g°ê), rushing back into the arms of China, however: They
favored a pragmatic reliance on the US while remaining independent by following
the ¡§innovation to protect Taiwan¡¨ policy.
The shift we are seeing now is happening in a context in which Taiwan has
already been democratized and has remained politically distinct from China.
President Ma Ying-jeou (°¨^¤E) has chosen to risk Taiwan¡¦s stability, its most
precious asset ¡X democracy notwithstanding ¡X by blindly seeking out and
accepting so-called ¡§eventual unification,¡¨ which will see Taiwan swallowed up
by China.
As we have seen, Chiang Kai-shek and his son refused to be sold out by the US
and placed their eggs in the ¡§innovation to protect Taiwan¡¨ basket. Although the
¡§innovation¡¨ side of things was somewhat wanting, the idea of ¡§protecting
Taiwan¡¨ was warmly received by the public. We have seen a reversal of the
situation this time around: Now, it is not the US who is selling Taiwan out, it
is Ma himself, openly turning his back on the fundamental consensus surrounding
the idea of ¡§protecting Taiwan.¡¨ He has submitted to the conditions placed on
him by Beijing and tied Taiwan to China. Whatever you might have thought of
Chiang Kai-shek and his son, I¡¦m afraid we are now saddled with Ma and his
circus.
James Wang is a journalist based in Washington.
¡@
|
