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Taiwan has a
strategic role to play in region
By Rong-i Arthur Hong ¬xºa¤@
On Oct. 11, former American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) director William Stanton
delivered a talk in Taipei that was open to the public, titled ¡§The Strategic
Significance of Taiwan.¡¨ In addition to talking about well-known themes such as
Taiwan¡¦s economic development and democratic transformation from a geostrategic
perspective, Stanton also examined the special strategic position the nation
occupies in the first island chain to provide a reinterpretation of Taiwan¡¦s
strategic importance to the US as an unsinkable aircraft carrier and as a supply
station for submarines.
The US has never viewed Taiwan as its unsinkable aircraft carrier. Instead, the
US is worried that if Taiwan falls under the control of one of its ¡§enemies,¡¨
Taiwan will become a military base that would affect maritime lines of
communication in the west Pacific. If this were to happen, the nation would be
forced into aligning itself against the US-Japan security alliance and Taiwanese
would once again become hostages of conflicts between more powerful countries.
In the same vein, China is worried that with the support of their enemies, the
safety of China¡¦s maritime lines of communication would be compromised and the
safety of the four provinces of Guangdong, Guangxi, Fujian and Jiangsu would be
threatened, which would impede China¡¦s development.
However, due to the end of the Cold War and changes in the way war is waged, an
independent, autonomous, stable and prosperous Taiwan is now in the common
interest of all of Taiwan¡¦s neighboring countries.
Taiwan has gone through a democratic transformation and is no longer some sort
of ¡§reactionary power¡¨ that will threaten development, as once believed by
China. On the contrary, an independent, autonomous, stable and prosperous Taiwan
provides a buffer zone and a place for reconciliation in the geopolitical
competition going on between China and the US-Japan security alliance and helps
create a safe environment for steady development in the Asia-Pacific region.
So to which country does Taiwan represent an unsinkable aircraft carrier? In
terms of the overall safety and stability of the Asia-Pacific region, the only
way to assure the safety of maritime lines of communication in the west Pacific,
and guarantee continued peace and development in the Asia-Pacific region, is to
have an independent, autonomous, stable and prosperous Taiwan.
While Taiwan¡¦s strategic importance is undeniable, it is often overlooked.
In order to establish a more stable environment in the west Pacific, Washington
should do more to assist Taiwan in playing a more active role in the
Asia-Pacific region security mechanism. At the same time, Washington must be
more active in assisting Taiwan to re-engage with the international community
and to benefit from a more favorable cost-performance ratio with military
upgrades.
At the same time, Beijing must also realize that only by having an independent,
autonomous, stable and prosperous Taiwan can the strategic environment in the
west Pacific be made stable, which is also the only way China can continue to
experience peaceful development.
The nature of cross-strait relations is not dependent on politicians¡¦ sound
bites, but rather in how to go about using pragmatic approaches and taking
actions beneficial to all Taiwanese to build common interests for the entire
Asia-Pacific region.
Rong-i Arthur Hong is a former professor at National Defense University.
Translated by Drew Cameron
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