As expected, Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator-at-large Wu Sz-huai (吳斯懷) has already provoked several controversies in less than two months on the job.
The retired lieutenant general’s nomination was highly questionable from the beginning, as he had sparked controversy when he attended an event in China commemorating the 150th birthday of Sun Yat-sen (孫逸仙) in 2016, when he sat through a speech by Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) and stood for a rendition of the Chinese national anthem.
On Tuesday last week, the Ministry of National Development reported that Chinese fighter jets were spotted near Taiwan’s air defense identification zone the previous night before being driven away by Taiwanese F-16 jets. This followed a similar mission by Chinese warplanes on Feb. 28.
While most politicians would have condemned such an incident, Wu accused the ministry of misleading the public, saying there is a “huge” difference between Chinese warplanes flying around Taiwan and aircraft intruding in the nation’s airspace, adding that the former should not be deemed provocative. He further compared the situation to US aircraft flying by Taiwan, which is just ludicrous and needs no further discussion.
While Wu might be right that there is no need to panic — which simply echoed what the ministry said — it is difficult to believe that these military training missions have nothing to do with China’s territorial ambitions toward Taiwan. There is a reason countries have their own air space, and if Chinese warplanes actually cross into Taiwanese air space, it would be a direct contravention, not a “provocation.”
Wu has said before that he simply wants China and Taiwan to interact peacefully, and that each side should refrain from provoking the other, but Beijing’s actions over the past five years — especially its continued blocking of Taiwan from participating in the WHO after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic — have been far from friendly.
There is no need to speculate about the purpose of these military exercises, but keeping Taiwanese informed about the actions of an often hostile neighbor does not count as fear-mongering. Similarly, the Ministry of Health and Welfare announces the nation’s number of new COVID-19 cases on a daily basis — it is scary, but nobody is calling that fear-mongering.
Even the KMT immediately distanced itself from Wu. It said that Wu’s words do not represent the party — but who does Wu represent? Who nominated him for the position? KMT Chairman Johnny Chiang (江啟臣) on Monday said that he would have a talk with Wu, but with the party’s image at an all-time low after its crushing defeat in January’s presidential and legislative elections, how it deals with this issue is critical to its plans to reform and reinvent the party so that it can regain its competitive edge.
As last week’s Taipei Times feature on young KMT supporters indicates, the real blow to the party’s image is its conservative, out-of-touch elements — such as Wu — who pander to an authoritarian government that constantly threatens Taiwan and its democracy.
Not everyone favors Taiwanese independence, and many still believe in and identify with the Republic of China, but almost all young voters can agree on safeguarding the nation’s democracy and freedom. That is what Beijing is out to destroy, which is why Wu’s stance is so damaging to the KMT’s image.
The 75th anniversary summit of NATO was held in Washington from Tuesday to Thursday last week. Its main focus was the reinvigoration and revitalization of NATO, along with its expansion. The shadow of domestic electoral politics could not be avoided. The focus was on whether US President Biden would deliver his speech at the NATO summit cogently. Biden’s fitness to run in the next US presidential election in November was under assessment. NATO is acquiring more coherence and teeth. These were perhaps more evident than Biden’s future. The link to the Biden candidacy is critical for NATO. If Biden loses
Shortly after Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) stepped down as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in 2012, his successor, Xi Jinping (習近平), articulated the “Chinese Dream,” which aims to rejuvenate the nation and restore its historical glory. While defense analysts and media often focus on China’s potential conflict with Taiwan, achieving “rejuvenation” would require Beijing to engage in at least six different conflicts with at least eight countries. These include territories ranging from the South China Sea and East China Sea to Inner Asia, the Himalayas and lands lost to Russia. Conflicts would involve Taiwan, the Philippines, Vietnam, Malaysia,
Japan and the Philippines on Monday signed a defense agreement that would facilitate joint drills between them. The pact was made “as both face an increasingly assertive China,” and is in line with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s “effort to forge security alliances to bolster the Philippine military’s limited ability to defend its territorial interests in the South China Sea,” The Associated Press (AP) said. The pact also comes on the heels of comments by former US deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger, who said at a forum on Tuesday last week that China’s recent aggression toward the Philippines in
The Ministry of National Defense on Tuesday announced that the military would hold its annual Han Kuang exercises from July 22 to 26. Military officers said the exercises would feature unscripted war games, and a decentralized command and control structure. This year’s exercises underline the recent reforms in Taiwan’s military as it transitions from a top-down command structure to one where autonomy is pushed down to the front lines to improve decisionmaking and adaptability. Militaries around the world have been observing and studying Russia’s war in Ukraine. They have seen that the Ukrainian military has been much quicker to adapt to