In an article published in the Taipei Times on June 13, former Water Resources Agency section chief Chang Yen-ming (張炎銘) said that people should severely condemn the deed of breaching reservoirs during wartime from the perspective of protecting people’s livelihood and well-being. Based on this, Chang said that Taiwan should abandon the idea that it could, if necessary, attack China’s Three Gorges Dam.
When humanity has reached the free and democratic stage of civilization, it becomes very difficult to justify winning a war through acts of terror that destroy civilian facilities and cause major disasters. This compassionate standpoint is understandable and easy to agree with. The problem is that totalitarian countries remain uncivilized and are under the control of antisocial personalities such as Adolf Hitler.
Such regimes often use propaganda, brainwashing and violence to captivate the population under the pretext of “restoring the glory of the empire” or “the great renewal of the nation.”
While aggressively expanding militarily, they are prepared to do whatever it takes to achieve their goals, even if it means sacrificing the lives of tens or hundreds of millions of people.
For them, bombing power plants and reservoirs takes no more than a flick of the wrist if it serves to paralyze the opposing side. They certainly do not share Chang’s sense of compassion.
With the apparent bombing of the Kakhovka Dam in Ukraine, which Chang cited in his article, foreign news reports have increasingly blamed Russia for its destruction.
We do not need to go far back to learn history’s lessons. To consolidate his personal power, former Chinese leader Mao Zedong (毛澤東) launched a series of campaigns such as the “Three Red Banners” and the “Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution,” which led to the deaths of countless millions of “Chinese compatriots.”
To snuff out the fire of democracy in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square, Mao’s indirect successor, former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平), did not hold back from sending in the army to shoot countless Chinese and crush them with tanks.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), who is obsessed with his “Chinese Dream,” is an even more sinister dictator than Mao and Deng. He would certainly show no mercy if he ever attacks Taiwan, and he would not care about Taiwanese who call for peace talks or oppose war.
Although Taiwan might not attack the Three Gorges Dam, it cannot be assumed that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army would not attack the Feitsui Dam (翡翠壩) or the Deji Dam (德基壩).
Military simulations should include a worst-case scenario that account for the huge risk of attacks on infrastructure such as hydroelectric power stations and plans to cope with the problems that would suddenly confront a huge number of disaster victims.
It is an urgent task to prepare reserves of armaments and food, and build solid bunkers in hidden areas. Only by surviving the initial, dangerous attack stage — as Ukraine has done — can Taiwan hope to exert its counteroffensive power and join allies who come to help fight a common enemy.
Jhang Shih-hsien is a former head of the National Palace Museum’s conservation department.
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