It is unfortunate that Taiwan has a neighbor across the Taiwan Strait that wants to annex it, but, even more frustrating, Taiwanese also have to put up with people who echo China’s rhetoric and intended to intimidate Taiwanese into obedience.
On Friday, while attending a book launch by former Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Culture and Communications Committee director-general Lee Chien-jung’s (李建榮), former Mainland Affairs Council chairman Su Chi (蘇起) said that the number of young Taiwanese who identify with Taiwanese independence ideals would “reduce sharply to 20 percent from the perceived 70 or 80 percent” if the US factor were removed and if China were to invade.
Saying that Taiwan’s safety is a prerequisite to independence, Su said “this kind of Taiwanese independence is not a courageous independence, but one built on a foundation of false security.”
At a time when China is stepping up efforts to intimidate Taiwan, such as the passage of the Chinese aircraft carrier the Liaoning through the Taiwan Strait on Wednesday last week and the People’s Liberation Army Air Force training missions that circled Taiwan’s airspace over the past few months, it is incomprehensible that a former Taiwanese official would promote China’s power and prestige, distorting and neglecting mainstream public opinion.
However, Su’s claim to fame is making up the term “1992 consensus,” so it many may not be that surprising.
As numerous polls in recent years have indicated, the latest of which was released last month by the Taiwan Thinktank, there is a growing number of people who refer to themselves as “Taiwanese,” with the increase especially notable among younger people.
Su has incorrectly interpreted that such people’s identity would crumble if the US factor were removed and China invaded.
As New Power Party Legislator Hsu Yung-ming (徐永明) said, Su’s argument stems from “old world thinking” that regards Taiwanese independence as hinging on US ability and support, not to mention that Taiwanese are not as easily scared as Su implies.
Su and Beijing should be reminded of the 1996 incident when China fired missiles off the coast of Taiwan in an obvious attempt to scare Taiwanese into not voting for Lee Teng-hui (李登輝), a presidential candidate Beijing did not favor. The election result made Taiwanese proud: Not only did Lee win, but he did so in a landslide and became Taiwan’s first democratically elected president. Taiwanese showed their wisdom and courage by rejecting Chinese bullying with their votes.
KMT Chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu (洪秀柱), KMT Vice Chairman Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) and former vice president Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) all recently announced they would run for the position of KMT chairperson. All have said they are disciples of former president Chiang Ching-kuo (蔣經國), but they do not abide by Chiang’s “three noes” policy — no contact, no negotiation and no compromise — when it comes to dealing with the Chinese Communist Party (CCP).
Su’s latest remarks were tantamount to being a mouthpiece for China. If he dared to make such a statement during the Martial Law era under Chiang’s rule, he would have been condemned for spreading CCP propaganda.
It is no secret that Beijing wishes to aggravate Taiwanese anxiety and it is a shame that there are people in Taiwan who — intentionally or unintentionally — play China’s game.
If anything, the real peril facing Taiwan is not China’s threats or its saber-rattling, but Taiwanese’s own lack of self-confidence.
US aerospace company Boeing Co has in recent years been involved in numerous safety incidents, including crashes of its 737 Max airliners, which have caused widespread concern about the company’s safety record. It has recently come to light that titanium jet engine parts used by Boeing and its European competitor Airbus SE were sold with falsified documentation. The source of the titanium used in these parts has been traced back to an unknown Chinese company. It is clear that China is trying to sneak questionable titanium materials into the supply chain and use any ensuing problems as an opportunity to
It’s not every month that the US Department of State sends two deputy assistant secretary-level officials to Taiwan, together. Its rarer still that such senior State Department policy officers, once on the ground in Taipei, make a point of huddling with fellow diplomats from “like-minded” NATO, ANZUS and Japanese governments to coordinate their multilateral Taiwan policies. The State Department issued a press release on June 22 admitting that the two American “representatives” had “hosted consultations in Taipei” with their counterparts from the “Taiwan Ministry of Foreign Affairs.” The consultations were blandly dubbed the “US-Taiwan Working Group on International Organizations.” The State
The Rim of the Pacific (RIMPAC) exercises, the largest naval exercise in the region, are aimed at deepening international collaboration and interaction while strengthening tactical capabilities and flexibility in tackling maritime crises. China was invited to participate in RIMPAC in 2014 and 2016, but it was excluded this year. The underlying reason is that Beijing’s ambitions of regional expansion and challenging the international order have raised global concern. The world has made clear its suspicions of China, and its exclusion from RIMPAC this year will bring about a sea change in years to come. The purpose of excluding China is primarily
The Chinese Supreme People’s Court and other government agencies released new legal guidelines criminalizing “Taiwan independence diehard separatists.” While mostly symbolic — the People’s Republic of China (PRC) has never had jurisdiction over Taiwan — Tamkang University Graduate Institute of China Studies associate professor Chang Wu-ueh (張五岳), an expert on cross-strait relations, said: “They aim to explain domestically how they are countering ‘Taiwan independence,’ they aim to declare internationally their claimed jurisdiction over Taiwan and they aim to deter Taiwanese.” Analysts do not know for sure why Beijing is propagating these guidelines now. Under Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), deciphering the