In an interview with CNN on Oct. 26, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) signaled that Taiwan wants a dialogue with Beijing to avoid misunderstanding. However, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesman Ma Xiaoguang (馬曉光) on Oct. 29 responded by dismissing Tsai’s gesture and saying that adherence to Beijing’s “one China” principle and the “1992 consensus” is the litmus test of sincerity in dialogue.
No matter whether Ma’s comments faithfully conveyed the opinions of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Central Committee, for the sake of the peaceful development of neighboring countries, Taiwan should again express its strong willingness to engage in dialogue.
Taiwan is on the path to becoming a normal country, but China is continually hounding it with military harassment. According to a report that the Ministry of National Defense submitted to the Legislative Yuan on Oct. 27, Chinese People’s Liberation Army aircraft have since the beginning of this year made more than 680 incursions into the southwestern part of Taiwan’s air defense identification zone.
As well as putting increased military pressure on Taiwan, this harassment has prompted the US to assign more aircraft and ships to secure the first island chain.
However, in China’s eyes, tensions between the two sides continue to spiral upward, as expressed by Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) in Rome on Monday last week.
He said that “the US’ connivance and support for Taiwan independence forces is also to blame,” the People’s Daily reported.
From yesterday to Thursday, the CCP’s 19th Central Committee is holding its Sixth Plenary Session, at which it is expected to ratify the party’s “third historical resolution.”
Maybe Taiwan can take advantage of the international media’s attention on the plenary to suggest that the leaders of both sides of the Taiwan Strait hold “national affairs talks on the South China Sea” to reduce the possibility of accidental conflict. No matter whether the other side responds, it would be a way for Taiwan to thank its allies for their support in the field of military diplomacy. At least Taiwanese can say that Taiwan has made an effort.
Shih Ya-hsuan is an associate professor at National Kaohsiung Normal University’s Department of Geography.
Translated by Julian Clegg
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
US President Donald Trump’s challenge to domestic American economic-political priorities, and abroad to the global balance of power, are not a threat to the security of Taiwan. Trump’s success can go far to contain the real threat — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) surge to hegemony — while offering expanded defensive opportunities for Taiwan. In a stunning affirmation of the CCP policy of “forceful reunification,” an obscene euphemism for the invasion of Taiwan and the destruction of its democracy, on March 13, 2024, the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) used Chinese social media platforms to show the first-time linkage of three new
The military is conducting its annual Han Kuang exercises in phases. The minister of national defense recently said that this year’s scenarios would simulate defending the nation against possible actions the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) might take in an invasion of Taiwan, making the threat of a speculated Chinese invasion in 2027 a heated agenda item again. That year, also referred to as the “Davidson window,” is named after then-US Indo-Pacific Command Admiral Philip Davidson, who in 2021 warned that Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) had instructed the PLA to be ready to invade Taiwan by 2027. Xi in 2017
Sasha B. Chhabra’s column (“Michelle Yeoh should no longer be welcome,” March 26, page 8) lamented an Instagram post by renowned actress Michelle Yeoh (楊紫瓊) about her recent visit to “Taipei, China.” It is Chhabra’s opinion that, in response to parroting Beijing’s propaganda about the status of Taiwan, Yeoh should be banned from entering this nation and her films cut off from funding by government-backed agencies, as well as disqualified from competing in the Golden Horse Awards. She and other celebrities, he wrote, must be made to understand “that there are consequences for their actions if they become political pawns of
RSS