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Ma and the call for US to abandon Taiwan
By James Wang 王景弘
Former presidents Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石), Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國) and the now
forgotten Yen Chia-kan (嚴家淦) ruled Taiwan for 39 years. The pro-localization
governments of former presidents Lee Teng-huei (李登輝) and Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁)
were in power for 20 years.
In these 59 years, nobody ever talked about the Finlandization of Taiwan, nor
did anyone openly advocate the US abandoning Taiwan and allowing China to annex
it to avoid conflict with Beijing.
However, after President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) has been in office for a mere three
years, both these things have happened. A series of egghead academics in the US
have come out with these suggestions, which are very damaging to Taiwan’s
survival and national interests.
It is overly polite to talk about the Finlandization of Taiwan. In name, Finland
was a neutral country that in practice became a political satellite of the
Soviet Union — but at least it was still a country.
When the Chiangs were in power, the Chinese Communist Party called them the
running dogs of US imperialism. To put it in a nicer way, they were a political
satellite of the US — but at least Washington viewed Taiwan as a country.
Ma includes Taiwan in his definition of China. However, China does not view
Taiwan as a country, but rather as an equivalent of Austria and the Sudeten-German
areas in Czechoslovakia that Adolf Hitler wanted to annex.
Back then, the UK didn’t have enough military power or the determination to
fight the Nazis and wanted peace at all costs. Then-British prime minister
Neville Chamberlain signed the Munich Agreement, which accepted the German
annexation of the Sudetenland in exchange for “peace.”
The territorial occupation accepted in the Munich Agreement may have been made
in the name of peace, but having been given an inch, Hitler took a mile, making
war unavoidable.
This is a prime example of a failed attempt at avoiding war. However, these
egghead academics in their ivory towers who think they have foresight want the
US to abandon Taiwan to avoid conflict with a rising China.
These theories are the result of Ma’s kowtowing toward China, which makes it
seem as if the Taiwanese want to return to China just as the Sudeten-Germans
wanted to be returned to German rule.
Ma and some other local residents who see themselves as Chinese may want to
“return” to China, but the majority of Taiwanese have no intention of being
integrated into China. Conceding Taiwan to obtain peace would be against the UN
Charter, international treaties, democratic values and US law.
The most effective way to deal with a “rising” China and avoid war would be the
strategy the US used against the Soviet Union during the Cold War: increasing
military power to maximize deterrent capabilities, relying on high-level
negotiations to avoid misunderstandings, forming alliances to maintain the
balance of power and using human rights and democracy to spur internal change.
The US is already implementing the first three points and only the fourth point
still needs more work.
It will take time to spur internal change in China, but Ma is betraying
Taiwanese public opinion in his rush to meet China’s interests and change the
“status quo.” With a “genius” like Ma here in Taiwan, it is little wonder that
more and more of these egghead scholars are starting to crop up in the US.
James Wang is a media commentator.
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