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.
In their recent op-ed “Trump Should Rein In Taiwan” in Foreign Policy magazine, Christopher Chivvis and Stephen Wertheim argued that the US should pressure President William Lai (賴清德) to “tone it down” to de-escalate tensions in the Taiwan Strait — as if Taiwan’s words are more of a threat to peace than Beijing’s actions. It is an old argument dressed up in new concern: that Washington must rein in Taipei to avoid war. However, this narrative gets it backward. Taiwan is not the problem; China is. Calls for a so-called “grand bargain” with Beijing — where the US pressures Taiwan into concessions
The term “assassin’s mace” originates from Chinese folklore, describing a concealed weapon used by a weaker hero to defeat a stronger adversary with an unexpected strike. In more general military parlance, the concept refers to an asymmetric capability that targets a critical vulnerability of an adversary. China has found its modern equivalent of the assassin’s mace with its high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) weapons, which are nuclear warheads detonated at a high altitude, emitting intense electromagnetic radiation capable of disabling and destroying electronics. An assassin’s mace weapon possesses two essential characteristics: strategic surprise and the ability to neutralize a core dependency.
Chinese President and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Chairman Xi Jinping (習近平) said in a politburo speech late last month that his party must protect the “bottom line” to prevent systemic threats. The tone of his address was grave, revealing deep anxieties about China’s current state of affairs. Essentially, what he worries most about is systemic threats to China’s normal development as a country. The US-China trade war has turned white hot: China’s export orders have plummeted, Chinese firms and enterprises are shutting up shop, and local debt risks are mounting daily, causing China’s economy to flag externally and hemorrhage internally. China’s
During the “426 rally” organized by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party under the slogan “fight green communism, resist dictatorship,” leaders from the two opposition parties framed it as a battle against an allegedly authoritarian administration led by President William Lai (賴清德). While criticism of the government can be a healthy expression of a vibrant, pluralistic society, and protests are quite common in Taiwan, the discourse of the 426 rally nonetheless betrayed troubling signs of collective amnesia. Specifically, the KMT, which imposed 38 years of martial law in Taiwan from 1949 to 1987, has never fully faced its
RSS