Former vice president Annette Lu (呂秀蓮) plans to express her opposition to war with a “Peace and Love Taiwan Rally” on Saturday next week.
Slogans about love and the argument that if you want peace, you must oppose war suggest that opposing war equals peace and love, but is that not the very message that Russian President Vladimir Putin seeks to convey to Ukraine, the country he has invaded?
It is ironic for such a slogan to be spoken at a time like this, with war between Russia and Ukraine still raging.
Of course, Ukrainians want peace, not war, but when Putin launched his invasion on Feb. 24, they only had two choices: surrender or fight back.
The first option — surrendering without a fight — could be presented as “anti-war” and avoiding military conflict. Furthermore, Putin would be happy, the US could give sanctuary to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and his family, and Europe, the US and other countries could all breathe a sigh of relief.
The trouble is that behind the scenes of celebration, the problem would not have been solved, only postponed, possibly with even worse consequences.
A Ukraine that had been demilitarized, distanced from the EU and unprotected by NATO, could from then on only do what Putin wanted and meekly accept Russia’s domination and manipulation. Such a Ukraine could not be called an independent and sovereign nation; it would be a puppet and underling of Russia.
The worst thing is that an aggressor’s appetite is never satisfied and he is always looking for his next victim. Judging by the example of Chechnya, which submitted to Russia and has now become a pawn in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the next time Russia gets ambitious and invades another country, it will be Ukraine’s turn to be Russia’s pawn and cannon fodder.
Would that not mean paying an even heavier price for what it might have avoided this year?
History teaches that wishful neutrality and opposition to war are mere illusions when a country runs into an ambitious invader. Ukraine is not blind. Of course it remembers how then-neutral European countries such as the Netherlands, Belgium and Norway were ravaged by Hitler’s Nazis during World War II.
Of course, Zelenskiy knows that when living next door to a bellicose neighbor, opposition to war is not the path to peace, but the road to slavery. It is a luxury that comes at a heavy cost. That is why Zelenskiy fought instead of surrendering. It is also why Finland and Sweden are now thinking of joining NATO.
Taiwan, like Ukraine, also has a bellicose neighbor, so why should Ukraine’s way of seeking peace not be a model for Taiwan?
Indeed, a weak or small country with a great enemy before it is in no position to shout “no to war,” because peace does not depend on the goodwill of one’s enemy, still less on the kind of opposition to war that involves disarming and demilitarizing.
Will those who shout: “Give me peace and nothing else” or “Give me peace or you do not love Taiwan” bring peace to Taiwan or lead it down the road to slavery? Do they really love Taiwan, or are they harming it?
Chang Kuo-tsai is a retired associate professor of National Hsinchu University of Education.
Translated by Julian Clegg
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