¡@
Vote to improve Taiwan¡¦s future
Tuesday, Jun 08, 2010, Page 8
It is uncertain how the tense situation on the Korean
Peninsula will play out. What is clear is that the US, Japan and other
democratic countries are backing South Korea, while China supports North Korea.
Late last month, the leaders of South Korea, Japan and China held a summit in
Seoul. Although South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and then-Japanese prime
minister Yukio Hatoyama repeatedly urged Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (·Å®aÄ_) to
impose sanctions against Pyongyang, Wen simply reiterated Beijing¡¦s established
stance.
He called on all parties to stay calm and avoid any escalation, and opposed and
condemned any moves that could threaten peace and stability on the peninsula.
China¡¦s defense of the North shows that, in spite of its claim that it is a
peacefully rising power, it remains a rogue state that still behaves like an
outlaw.
An international investigation turned up evidence that the South Korean corvette
Cheonan was sunk by a North Korean torpedo.
Under such circumstances, China¡¦s call for the parties involved to restrain
themselves is not a neutral position. Rather, it is blatantly shielding North
Korea.
In recent years, North Korea has repeatedly tested ballistic missiles and even
nuclear weapons, posing a threat to peace and stability in Northeast Asia. The
reason why this country, poor as it is, acts so recklessly is that China
supports it behind the scenes. Beijing¡¦s motive in using the North Korean
troublemaker to tie down the US-led democratic camp in Northeast Asia and to
gain bargaining chips for itself.
President Ma Ying-jeou (°¨^¤E) activated Taiwan¡¦s national security mechanism as
soon as the Korean crisis broke out, but he has yet to take any specific
measures in response. Instead, the government¡¦s formal statements on the
incident have simply echoed those of China.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a press release on May 20, calling on the
parties involved to act in accordance with UN regulations and resolve the
dispute rationally and peacefully so as to maintain peace, security and
prosperity in the region.
On May 27 the ministry again expressed its concern in a statement condemning any
violence or provocation that could damage regional peace and stability.
These statements could just as well have been made by China¡¦s foreign ministry,
because nowhere do they specifically condemn North Korea for its actions.
It is no surprise that the Ma government is trying not to offend China and is
even trying to ingratiate itself with Beijing, but its pro-China policies are
now drawing a line between Taiwan and democratic countries such as the US, Japan
and South Korea.
Evidently, what the Ma administration calls a ¡§diplomatic truce¡¨ is actually
contracting out Taiwan¡¦s diplomacy out to China.
With regard to the current Korean crisis, whatever China does, Ma¡¦s government
does the same.
The government has done a 180-degree turn as to whom it views as it¡¦s friends
and enemies. The peril into which this casts the future of Taiwan should not be
underestimated.
A few days ago, former American Institute in Taiwan chairman Nat Bellocchi
published a commentary reminding the Ma administration that Taiwan needs to
stand by its allies. Everyone in Taiwan should pay heed to Bellocchi¡¦s words.
In Bellocchi¡¦s view, the current tensions on the Korean Peninsula are a test for
the peaceful policies the South has been following in relation to the North.
Similarly, China¡¦s response to the crisis will be a test for Ma¡¦s peaceful
approach to Beijing. North Korea and China are both dictatorships, and Beijing¡¦s
economic reforms have not changed the totalitarian nature of its government.
Although South Korea has engaged North Korea with a Sunshine Policy and has
offered economic aid, the North can at any moment try to divert attention from
its internal problems by turning on its southern neighbor, even to the extent of
using military aggression.
Taiwan¡¦s situation is similar. Despite Ma¡¦s repeated expressions of goodwill,
China still has about 1,500 missiles aimed at Taiwan. Furthermore, China¡¦s
repression in Tibet and Xinjiang and against Falun Gong practitioners signal
that it could at some point resort to military force against Taiwan.
The plan by the Chinese Communist Party and Ma¡¦s Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT)
to use an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) to bring Taiwan¡¦s
economy into a single Chinese market have aroused public demands for a
referendum on an potential trade pact. However, attention should also be paid to
the Ma administration¡¦s response to the Korean Peninsula crisis.
As the government moves to distance itself from the democratic camp, it is quite
possible that, by the time the present crisis is over, it will have stealthily
aligned Taiwan¡¦s geostrategic position with that of China. That would be a big
step toward eventual unification.
If this comes to pass, Taiwan will be little more than a special administrative
region of China and its people will be destitute. The other result could be that
Taiwan is regarded as enemy territory by the US, Japan and South Korea with
regard to their strategic deployment. That is the catastrophe that threatens 23
million Taiwanese.
Given this threat, if the government refuses to abandon its pro-China policies,
the public should use the year-end special municipality elections and the next
legislative and presidential elections to take Taiwan¡¦s fate into their own
hands and stop the nation from being strangled.
¡@
|