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The nation must mend
trust with Japan, US
By Chen Kuo-hsiung 陳國雄
The Chinese Communist Party’s 18th National Congress last month elected Chinese
Vice President Xi Jinping (習近平) as the party’s new general secretary. Several
things have happened since then that indicate Xi will take a hawkish line in
foreign relations. These include China expressing its intention to strictly
enforce its law in the South China Sea, its controversial inclusion of its
territorial claims in the design of its new passports and repeated encroachments
by Chinese vessels into waters surrounding the disputed Diaoyutai Islands (釣魚台)
— known as the Senkakus in Japan.
Just days before Japan’s general election on Dec. 16, China sent a
reconnaissance plane to patrol the Diaoyutais, angering Japanese voters and
helping Liberal Democratic Party leader Shinzo Abe, whom China regards as a
rightist, become prime minister again. The incident won support for Abe’s
advocacy of tougher policies on China. Japanese media said China’s actions
seemed designed to win votes for Abe’s party. One might think that China’s
leaders actually supported Abe’s call for Japan to alter its Constitution to
make its Self-Defense Forces into a national military. Did Beijing not know what
would come of such hawkish tactics?
Abe talked tough before the election, but on Dec. 22, he said his government
would delay its plan to station coast guard officials on the Diaoyutai Islands.
Abe said that Japan’s relationship with China was among its most important
bilateral relations and that his government would make efforts to relaunch a
mutually beneficial relationship with China.
However, on the very same day, China sent a surveillance plane into airspace
about 100km north of the Diaoyutai Islands. The Chinese plane flew away after
the Japanese Air Self-Defense Force dispatched fighter planes to intercept it.
However, China’s move was a kick in the teeth for Abe, just as he spoke in such
friendly terms.
Maybe China’s leaders think such actions strengthen their efforts to extend
China’s sovereignty over the Diaoyutai Islands, but actually they are
ineffective and will cause significant long-term damage to China’s image and
national interests. The alliance between the US and Japan will get even closer,
and the aim of amending Japan’s “Peace Constitution” will become easier to
achieve. China’s actions will provide a rationale for Japan and its allies to
exercise their right to collective self-defense.
The threat to Taiwan’s security comes from China. The nation’s security depends
on getting help from its strategic allies, the US-Japan security alliance.
However, since President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) assumed office, his government has
leaned excessively toward China and this policy has eroded confidence among
Taiwan’s strategic allies. One sign of this is the US government’s refusal to
sell more advanced weapons to Taiwan.
Although Ma insists that he has no intention of allying with China to resist
Japan, he has permitted government vessels from Taiwan to escort fishing boats
flying China’s national flag to land on the Diaoyutai Islands. Ma has never said
a word about encroachments by Chinese government vessels and reconnaissance
planes in the sea and airspace around the Diaoyutai Islands, which are Taiwan’s
territory. This gives the international community the impression that Taiwan is
acquiescing to Chinese sovereignty over the Diaoyutais.
Taiwan must strongly denounce the incursions by Chinese government vessels and
surveillance planes around the Diaoyutais. Only by doing so can Taiwanese
reverse the impression Taiwan is allying with China to resist Japan and mend the
trust between Taiwan and its allies.
Chen Kuo-hsiung is a researcher with the Taiwan National Security Institute.
Translated by Julian Clegg
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