Google recently announced without warning that it was considering withdrawing from the China market.
It said Chinese cyber criminals had compromised its Web site and tried to access the Gmail account details of certain Chinese dissidents.
Forgetting, for the time being, any direct implications of this, there is one particular aspect I would like to discuss.
The US and China are currently engaged in an economic dispute about the volume of cheap Chinese imports, which is forcing US companies to lay off workers.
The US government and some multinationals are very unhappy about the Chinese government’s conduct in this case. This dispute is only going to get more heated over the course of this year.
Against this backdrop, Taiwan’s government is pressing on with plans to sign an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) with China, which will align Taiwan more closely with the Chinese economy.
This will get Taiwan embroiled in difficult economic disputes with other countries.
As Google was making its announcement, US journalist Gerald Posner posted a story online discussing a confidential FBI report about the threat to US national security by a Chinese cyber army.
According to the report, the 180,000-strong retinue of criminals had the cyber equivalent of weapons of mass destruction at their disposal.
It says the People’s Liberation Army has developed a network of more than 30,000 military cyber spies, plus more than 150,000 private-sector computer experts.
The Pentagon alone received more than 90,000 sophisticated systematic and combined attacks last year, and this figure doesn’t include attacks on other US government departments, energy suppliers or other commercial institutions of strategic importance.
In fact, many multinationals are coming close to losing their patience with China.
Early last month, the directors and representatives of more than 70 chambers of commerce and industry, including those based in the US, Canada, South Korea and Japan, signed a joint letter to Chinese President Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) that objected to China’s attitude toward unfair competition.
It appears that Google is not alone in its frustration with China’s behavior.
Google does not have fixed investments in China, such as manufacturing plants or equipment. Its decision to leave China is based on considerations of market access alone.
Other companies may share Google’s scruples, but cannot make the decision to withdraw so lightly.
However, when those multinational companies that enthusiastically supported the idea of permanent most-favored-nation status for China become frustrated, and when this feeling of anger spills over to European, Japanese, Korean and Canadian companies, it’s not hard to see that the year ahead will see economic disputes breaking out between China and other countries.
If the government is blind to this situation and steps up integration with China, Taiwan may well find itself caught up in the economic dispute between China and the US.
China is even getting Taiwanese companies to sell Iran equipment that can be used in developing nuclear weapons.
This has prompted the EU to threaten action against Taiwan, and it is just the tip of the iceberg.
Will the government really continue to insist on continuing with this kind of economic suicide?
Lai I-chung is an executive member of Taiwan Thinktank.
Translated by Paul Cooper
Two weeks ago, Malaysian actress Michelle Yeoh (楊紫瓊) raised hackles in Taiwan by posting to her 2.6 million Instagram followers that she was visiting “Taipei, China.” Yeoh’s post continues a long-standing trend of Chinese propaganda that spreads disinformation about Taiwan’s political status and geography, aimed at deceiving the world into supporting its illegitimate claims to Taiwan, which is not and has never been part of China. Taiwan must respond to this blatant act of cognitive warfare. Failure to respond merely cedes ground to China to continue its efforts to conquer Taiwan in the global consciousness to justify an invasion. Taiwan’s government
This month’s news that Taiwan ranks as Asia’s happiest place according to this year’s World Happiness Report deserves both celebration and reflection. Moving up from 31st to 27th globally and surpassing Singapore as Asia’s happiness leader is gratifying, but the true significance lies deeper than these statistics. As a society at the crossroads of Eastern tradition and Western influence, Taiwan embodies a distinctive approach to happiness worth examining more closely. The report highlights Taiwan’s exceptional habit of sharing meals — 10.1 shared meals out of 14 weekly opportunities, ranking eighth globally. This practice is not merely about food, but represents something more
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
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
RSS