Likening former Democratic Progressive Party chairman Shih Ming-teh (
Dissident writer Cao Changqing (
Yesterday Cao told a press conference that the tactics of the Shih team resembled those used to whip up hysteria and violence in China's most infamous phase of the modern era.
Cao is not speaking mischievously. He is from China and knows what the Cultural Revolution did -- and is still doing, in pernicious ways -- to China. He supports Taiwan's right of self-determination, however it may manifest itself.
What Cao does not seem to understand is that the social and historical circumstances that shape Taiwanese behavior do not lend themselves to casual comparisons of Taiwanese protests to Chinese mass insanity.
In the Cultural Revolution, a people's youthful enthusiasm for bettering their country was nourished and manipulated by a charismatic thug to annihilate rivals within the Chinese Communist Party and groups within society that had the potential to weaken his grip on power.
It wasn't just about purging senior politicians and having a gullible proletariat let off some steam. It was about brainwashing millions of people, including children, into abandoning basic values of loyalty and propriety in the service of a cult leader's personal agenda. It was about killing as many ordinary people as necessary to protect that agenda.
It was a power play that nearly ruined a nation already suffering from the stupidity of the Great Leap Forward. And thirty years on, the social and spiritual effects of that era remain embedded in the Chinese psyche, including, in all likelihood, the fear of it coming to pass all over again in some form.
China's self-fulfilling prophecy of "chaos" therefore gives its rulers license to oppress, and temporary economic euphoria deflates the efforts of those who would lobby for a just and stable political structure.
Taiwanese do not have this history. Under Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) rule there was savagery, but power was distributed sufficiently broadly -- and US oversight was sufficiently alert -- such that the "Republic of China" as a whole could work at making things better. And for most people, things got a lot better.
While there is a chance of conflict if Shih's campaign proceeds with its nationwide roadshow, there is no chance of this campaign appealing to Taiwan's "masses" -- as a mass revolution must -- because the economic interests of the great majority of Taiwanese are in conflict with the simplistic and naive (and disingenuous) messages of revolution and purity that the campaign is disseminating.
Put more simply, you can't stage a revolution on the back of complimentary lunch boxes.
Perhaps it was the color of these protesters' shirts that sent Cao Changqing over the edge and prompted him to warn of pending disaster. And he does make good points about the psychology of those involved and the techniques of organizers in rallying them.
Nevertheless, Cao would be doing his listeners and readers a service if he were to ease off on the alarmist rhetoric and factor in some positive attributes of this nation that will defuse a serious escalation: mutual respect, a sense of local community and, above all, a sense of perspective.
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
In an article published on this page on Tuesday, Kaohsiung-based journalist Julien Oeuillet wrote that “legions of people worldwide would care if a disaster occurred in South Korea or Japan, but the same people would not bat an eyelid if Taiwan disappeared.” That is quite a statement. We are constantly reading about the importance of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), hailed in Taiwan as the nation’s “silicon shield” protecting it from hostile foreign forces such as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and so crucial to the global supply chain for semiconductors that its loss would cost the global economy US$1
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
Sasha B. Chhabra’s column (“Michelle Yeoh should no longer be welcome,” March 26, page 8) lamented an Instagram post by renowned actress Michelle Yeoh (楊紫瓊) about her recent visit to “Taipei, China.” It is Chhabra’s opinion that, in response to parroting Beijing’s propaganda about the status of Taiwan, Yeoh should be banned from entering this nation and her films cut off from funding by government-backed agencies, as well as disqualified from competing in the Golden Horse Awards. She and other celebrities, he wrote, must be made to understand “that there are consequences for their actions if they become political pawns of
RSS