Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) visit to Europe has further highlighted the changing world order, especially the relations between China, the US and the EU. It speaks of an audacious, long-term plan by Beijing on the same scale as the US’ post-war hegemonic rise.
These shifts involve issues of national security, international trade and media manipulation, and will have an impact on Taiwan’s security.
US protectionism under the administration of US President Donald Trump is causing jitters among traditional US allies and competitors alike. This is pushing the EU and China closer, or at least accelerating a process that China’s rise has made all but inevitable.
Days after Xi signed a comprehensive memorandum of understanding with Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte that saw Italy embrace his Belt and Road Initiative, French President Emmanuel Macron welcomed the Chinese leader to Paris.
Macron conspicuously invited German Chancellor Angela Merkel and European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker to his meeting with Xi to put a united face on the proceedings, compared with the country-to-country meeting between Xi and Conte.
Despite Macron’s reservations on issues of trade openness and human rights violations with China, and his caution about joining any Belt and Road Initiative projects, the scale of the trade agreements signed between France and China vastly outstripped those detailed in the Xi-Conte deal. France and China signed 15 contracts, including a 300-airplane order from Airbus, alone worth 30 billion euros (US$33.83 billion).
Within the context of the US-China trade dispute and the issues facing US plane maker Boeing, the huge Airbus contract speaks volumes. It is not mere economics; it is part of a realignment of international trade. The EU will benefit. For China, the implications are part of its strategy to become a world superpower.
Another part of this strategy is the control of perceptions of China in the media, the subject of a report released on Tuesday by Reporters Without Borders, China’s Pursuit of a New World Media Order. The report ties China’s attempts to dominate international media with the Belt and Road Initiative. Both programs are working toward the same end: hegemonic dominance of the international order to rival that of the US.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Monday criticized Beijing for trying to distort reporting on the Xi-Conte meeting, translating a part in the signed communique confirming Italy’s continued adherence to the “one China” policy to say that Italy now follows the “one China” principle.
The two are not the same thing. The mistranslation is another example of Beijing’s attempts to subtly shift the goal posts to affect international perceptions of cross-strait relations.
Taiwan can take a certain amount of reassurance from the Trump administration’s relatively vocal support. This is part and parcel of a harder stance against Beijing and other traditional allies, but this same stance is pushing Beijing and the EU together, which is concerning in itself.
In the Heartland Theory submitted to the Royal Geographical Society in 1904, Halford Mackinder argued that control over Eurasia — what he called the “World Island” — would eventually lead to world domination. US naval historian and strategist Alfred Thayer Mahan argued that control over the seas meant control over the world.
Beijing has a long way to go before it can challenge the US in terms of economic and maritime power. China’s one-party system means that it can quite happily play the long game.
Taiwan’s semiconductor industry gives it a strategic advantage, but that advantage would be threatened as the US seeks to end Taiwan’s monopoly in the industry and as China grows more assertive, analysts said at a security dialogue last week. While the semiconductor industry is Taiwan’s “silicon shield,” its dominance has been seen by some in the US as “a monopoly,” South Korea’s Sungkyunkwan University academic Kwon Seok-joon said at an event held by the Center for Strategic and International Studies. In addition, Taiwan lacks sufficient energy sources and is vulnerable to natural disasters and geopolitical threats from China, he said.
After reading the article by Hideki Nagayama [English version on same page] published in the Liberty Times (sister newspaper of the Taipei Times) on Wednesday, I decided to write this article in hopes of ever so slightly easing my depression. In August, I visited the National Museum of Ethnology in Osaka, Japan, to attend a seminar. While there, I had the chance to look at the museum’s collections. I felt extreme annoyance at seeing that the museum had classified Taiwanese indigenous peoples as part of China’s ethnic minorities. I kept thinking about how I could make this known, but after returning
What value does the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) hold in Taiwan? One might say that it is to defend — or at the very least, maintain — truly “blue” qualities. To be truly “blue” — without impurities, rejecting any “red” influence — is to uphold the ideology consistent with that on which the Republic of China (ROC) was established. The KMT would likely not object to this notion. However, if the current generation of KMT political elites do not understand what it means to be “blue” — or even light blue — their knowledge and bravery are far too lacking
Taipei’s population is estimated to drop below 2.5 million by the end of this month — the only city among the nation’s six special municipalities that has more people moving out than moving in this year. A city that is classified as a special municipality can have three deputy mayors if it has a population of more than 2.5 million people, Article 55 of the Local Government Act (地方制度法) states. To counter the capital’s shrinking population, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) held a cross-departmental population policy committee meeting on Wednesday last week to discuss possible solutions. According to Taipei City Government data, Taipei’s