It is uncertain how the tense situation on the Korean Peninsula will play out. What is clear is that the US, Japan and other democratic countries are backing South Korea, while China supports North Korea.
Late last month, the leaders of South Korea, Japan and China held a summit in Seoul. Although South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and then-Japanese prime minister Yukio Hatoyama repeatedly urged Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao (溫家寶) to impose sanctions against Pyongyang, Wen simply reiterated Beijing’s established stance.
He called on all parties to stay calm and avoid any escalation, and opposed and condemned any moves that could threaten peace and stability on the peninsula. China’s defense of the North shows that, in spite of its claim that it is a peacefully rising power, it remains a rogue state that still behaves like an outlaw.
An international investigation turned up evidence that the South Korean corvette Cheonan was sunk by a North Korean torpedo.
Under such circumstances, China’s call for the parties involved to restrain themselves is not a neutral position. Rather, it is blatantly shielding North Korea.
In recent years, North Korea has repeatedly tested ballistic missiles and even nuclear weapons, posing a threat to peace and stability in Northeast Asia. The reason why this country, poor as it is, acts so recklessly is that China supports it behind the scenes. Beijing’s motive in using the North Korean troublemaker to tie down the US-led democratic camp in Northeast Asia and to gain bargaining chips for itself.
President Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) activated Taiwan’s national security mechanism as soon as the Korean crisis broke out, but he has yet to take any specific measures in response. Instead, the government’s formal statements on the incident have simply echoed those of China.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs issued a press release on May 20, calling on the parties involved to act in accordance with UN regulations and resolve the dispute rationally and peacefully so as to maintain peace, security and prosperity in the region.
On May 27 the ministry again expressed its concern in a statement condemning any violence or provocation that could damage regional peace and stability.
These statements could just as well have been made by China’s foreign ministry, because nowhere do they specifically condemn North Korea for its actions.
It is no surprise that the Ma government is trying not to offend China and is even trying to ingratiate itself with Beijing, but its pro-China policies are now drawing a line between Taiwan and democratic countries such as the US, Japan and South Korea.
Evidently, what the Ma administration calls a “diplomatic truce” is actually contracting out Taiwan’s diplomacy out to China.
With regard to the current Korean crisis, whatever China does, Ma’s government does the same.
The government has done a 180-degree turn as to whom it views as it’s friends and enemies. The peril into which this casts the future of Taiwan should not be underestimated.
A few days ago, former American Institute in Taiwan chairman Nat Bellocchi published a commentary reminding the Ma administration that Taiwan needs to stand by its allies. Everyone in Taiwan should pay heed to Bellocchi’s words.
In Bellocchi’s view, the current tensions on the Korean Peninsula are a test for the peaceful policies the South has been following in relation to the North.
Similarly, China’s response to the crisis will be a test for Ma’s peaceful approach to Beijing. North Korea and China are both dictatorships, and Beijing’s economic reforms have not changed the totalitarian nature of its government.
Although South Korea has engaged North Korea with a Sunshine Policy and has offered economic aid, the North can at any moment try to divert attention from its internal problems by turning on its southern neighbor, even to the extent of using military aggression.
Taiwan’s situation is similar. Despite Ma’s repeated expressions of goodwill, China still has about 1,500 missiles aimed at Taiwan. Furthermore, China’s repression in Tibet and Xinjiang and against Falun Gong practitioners signal that it could at some point resort to military force against Taiwan.
The plan by the Chinese Communist Party and Ma’s Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) to use an economic cooperation framework agreement (ECFA) to bring Taiwan’s economy into a single Chinese market have aroused public demands for a referendum on an potential trade pact. However, attention should also be paid to the Ma administration’s response to the Korean Peninsula crisis.
As the government moves to distance itself from the democratic camp, it is quite possible that, by the time the present crisis is over, it will have stealthily aligned Taiwan’s geostrategic position with that of China. That would be a big step toward eventual unification.
If this comes to pass, Taiwan will be little more than a special administrative region of China and its people will be destitute. The other result could be that Taiwan is regarded as enemy territory by the US, Japan and South Korea with regard to their strategic deployment. That is the catastrophe that threatens 23 million Taiwanese.
Given this threat, if the government refuses to abandon its pro-China policies, the public should use the year-end special municipality elections and the next legislative and presidential elections to take Taiwan’s fate into their own hands and stop the nation from being strangled.
TRANSLATED BY EDDY CHANG AND JULIAN CLEGG
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