Given that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein remained unwilling to disarm after a lengthy international debate and diplomatic effort, US President George W. Bush issued a 48-hour ultimatum earlier this week, which meant military conflict would be inevitable if Saddam did not leave Iraq.
Yesterday morning, Bush announced the beginning of the military campaign. It is regrettable that no peaceful resolution to the dispute was found and that the US was still unable to disarm Iraq even with the threat of a looming war. Now that the war has begun in earnest, we can only pray that it may end early, that its scope may be as small as possible and that the casualties may be kept to a minimum.
Taiwan is a peace-loving country. Having experienced the agony of war and turmoil in the past, the people of Taiwan know the evils of war -- the immense suffering that it brings to people -- and therefore oppose war as a solution to disputes. However, when war is a necessary evil for maintaining lasting peace -- ?and when only by resorting to force can one eliminate the threat of terrorism -- a "surgical use of force" may become inevitable.
This is the stated objective of the US campaign in Iraq this time. Being a long-time, faithful ally of Washington, Taiwan understands the American stance on military action. Even though Taiwan is not actually participating in the campaign, it is nevertheless willing to help contribute to the reconstruction of Iraq after the war.
One reason cited by the US for the attack is that it believes Iraq has weapons of mass destruction -- including biological and chemical weapons -- which threaten its own citizens, as well as citizens of other countries. Since Taiwan faces more than 400 Chinese missiles deployed against it, its people certainly can understand American concerns.
According to estimates by US military experts, the number of Chinese missiles aimed at Taiwan is increasing by 75 per year. Not only has Beijing refused to renounce the use of force against Taiwan, but it has also fired missiles into the seas near Taiwan in the run-up to the 1996 presidential election. If the US had not intervened then, by sending aircraft carriers to the region, the situation could have developed very differently.
At a time when global attention is focused on the US-Iraq war, we must remind countries around the world that China also possesses weapons of mass destruction. It also has the will to use military force, as well as a record of using military force. The situation in the Taiwan Strait is a time bomb.
Having lived under China's military threat for so long, Taiwan understands that it must remain vigilant against that threat. This country therefore must maintain appropriate defense capabilities to deter reckless action from Beijing.
As China increases its defense budget each year to build up its arsenal, the risk of the cross-strait situation spinning out of control will increase if Taipei does not maintain superiority in terms of weapons quality. Countries around the world should understand that appeasing China and blocking Taiwan's weapons purchases are detrimental to security in the Strait.
The US-Iraq war will cause vast casualties and devastate the lives of many people. This is a tragedy for humanity. This is a failure of the American and Iraqi leaders. It is also a failure of the UN.
Now that conflict has arrived in the Persian Gulf, we hope it will teach the world an important lesson: Countries need to review their international organizations and frameworks so that order may be restored quickly in Iraq and the rest of the world.
Concerns that the US might abandon Taiwan are often overstated. While US President Donald Trump’s handling of Ukraine raised unease in Taiwan, it is crucial to recognize that Taiwan is not Ukraine. Under Trump, the US views Ukraine largely as a European problem, whereas the Indo-Pacific region remains its primary geopolitical focus. Taipei holds immense strategic value for Washington and is unlikely to be treated as a bargaining chip in US-China relations. Trump’s vision of “making America great again” would be directly undermined by any move to abandon Taiwan. Despite the rhetoric of “America First,” the Trump administration understands the necessity of
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
If you had a vision of the future where China did not dominate the global car industry, you can kiss those dreams goodbye. That is because US President Donald Trump’s promised 25 percent tariff on auto imports takes an ax to the only bits of the emerging electric vehicle (EV) supply chain that are not already dominated by Beijing. The biggest losers when the levies take effect this week would be Japan and South Korea. They account for one-third of the cars imported into the US, and as much as two-thirds of those imported from outside North America. (Mexico and Canada, while
The military is conducting its annual Han Kuang exercises in phases. The minister of national defense recently said that this year’s scenarios would simulate defending the nation against possible actions the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) might take in an invasion of Taiwan, making the threat of a speculated Chinese invasion in 2027 a heated agenda item again. That year, also referred to as the “Davidson window,” is named after then-US Indo-Pacific Command Admiral Philip Davidson, who in 2021 warned that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had instructed the PLA to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. Xi in 2017
RSS