US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan last week represented a milestone in Taiwan-US relations, but also pricked the bubble of the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) big lie that Taiwan is an inseparable part of China.
During a speech delivered at the Presidential Office in Taipei on Wednesday, Pelosi said: “Forty-two years ago, America made a bedrock promise to always stand with Taiwan,” referring to the US’ Taiwan Relations Act of 1979.
On the eve of her visit to Taiwan, Pelosi published an article in the Washington Post in which she stated that “America must stand by Taiwan.”
With China closing in on Taiwan militarily, economically and diplomatically, Pelosi’s visit was an affirmation of the US’ pledge to defend Taiwan, a fellow democracy and one that Freedom House rates as one of the freest in the world — but whose freedom is now under severe threat.
During these perilous times, Pelosi’s visit has given Taiwanese a much-needed morale boost.
Following her visit, China’s People’s Liberation Army began joint air and sea drills, encircling Taiwan proper to simulate a blockade or “quarantine” of Taiwan.
In addition to military coercion, the CCP uses ethnonationalism to whip its populace into a lather of hatred and loathing, and regularly issues blood-curdling threats of violence to intimidate Taiwanese.
This is the behavior of a hoodlum.
History is repeating itself in the 21st century as Chinese-style ultranationalism is on the rise. As former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo said during a historic speech at the Nixon Library in 2020, China is this century’s “evil empire.”
China as an evil empire is nothing new: The history of imperial China, stretching back several thousands of years, could be said to be that of an “evil empire.”
Over the centuries, China’s borders have gradually pushed outward, north, south, east and west, as it conquered and annexed the “lands of foreign barbarians” on its periphery to become a sprawling empire.
The CCP has inherited political and cultural Confucianism, which holds the absurd notion that: “All land under heaven belongs to the emperor, and all people are the emperor’s servants” (普天之下，莫非王土，率土之濱，莫非王臣).
This ancient Chinese culture of invasion and conquest has been elevated to new heights of perfection by the CCP.
Since 1979, Beijing has used its “one China” principle to create the lie of the century.
The CCP continually says that it is resolutely determined to “smash” what it calls “Taiwanese independence separatists” and “interfering foreign forces,” to “unite the motherland” and realize the “great rejuvenation of the Chinese people.”
However, for all Beijing’s hue and cry, world opinion has coalesced around a consensus to resist Chinese expansionism and protect Taiwan. Furthermore, there is a paradox at play: Like the “band-tightening spell” in Journey to the West (西遊記), the more powerful China becomes to achieve its goal of annexing Taiwan, the faster the CCP hastens its own demise.
During her address at the Presidential Office, Pelosi said: “America’s determination to preserve democracy, here in Taiwan and around the world, remains ironclad.”
Her visit has broken the CCP’s spell that “Taiwan is part of China.”
Taiwan is a fortress against communist China and an “unsinkable aircraft carrier” in the west Pacific.
Chen Ching-kuen is a university assistant professor.
Translated by Edward Jones
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