Media reports indicate that at the end of last month, the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF) was informed by its Chinese counterpart, the Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait, that if Taiwanese merchant vessels need Chinese warships as escorts for protection, they may apply through the SEF.
The Mainland Affairs Council has yet to authorize the SEF to handle such requests, but has indicated that it is assessing the possibility of sending Taiwanese navy vessels to the Gulf of Aden to protect the nation’s ships from pirates.
China’s offer to protect Taiwanese ships is an expression of its concern for and willingness to protect the lives and property of Taiwanese people under the “one China” principle and is in line with a softer approach to Taiwan. On the other hand, some people no doubt worry that China intends to use the offer to undermine Taiwan’s sovereignty.
But such concerns are not a good reason to send our warships. If we want to avoid directly accepting China’s offer, we can instead say we accept help from any and all countries participating in the patrol mission, as we would in any emergency in international waters.
Neither the Ministry of National Defense nor the navy is empowered to make a decision on sending vessels to escort cargo ships. The navy is capable of carrying out such a mission; it has many years’ experience of sending ships on long voyages to promote relations with other countries. But sending ships to escort merchant vessels and attack pirates is a different matter and differs from conventional naval warfare.
It would require special training for the officers and seamen of the vessels and it would require the ships to carry special forces personnel, helicopters and so on.
It is also unclear whether we would get help from nearby countries or other navies in a situation that our ships could not handle alone — such as if pirates hit one of our helicopters with a shoulder-launched missile. Such a scenario is possible and the navy cannot afford to ignore the risks.
East and South Asian countries that have sent naval forces to combat Somali pirates include China, Pakistan, Malaysia, India and Japan. There is a real need to protect shipping lanes from the Middle East to East Asia via the Malacca Strait.
Additionally, the anti-piracy mission provides a justification for some countries to show their ambition to extend their naval power.
Participating in the international drive to combat piracy by dispatching warships would, of course, benefit Taiwan in some respects.
It would provide training opportunities and demonstrate Taiwan’s willingness to cooperate with international organizations on military matters.
However, the possible reactions of the US, Japan and China must be considered.
The US Fifth Fleet has appointed Rear Admiral Terence McKnight to take command of the newly established multinational force patrolling the Gulf of Aden — Combined Task Force 151.
The next step may be to expand the anti-pirate force to include more than 20 countries, so as to effectively enforce security in sea lanes extending southward and eastward from the Suez Canal.
It is uncertain whether other participants in the mission would agree to let Taiwan participate. China might welcome Taiwanese ships to take part in joint escort, logistical and beach rescue efforts under the title of “Taiwan, China.”
In such a case, our government would need to proceed with caution.
Wang Jyh-perng is a reserve navy captain.
TRANSLATED BY JULIAN CLEGG
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