Singaporean politicians have always been biased against Taiwan’s democracy and political development. Their remarks aim to both reflect their domestic governance and meet China’s expectations.
However, these views, including the one expressed by former Singaporean foreign minister George Yeo (楊榮文) in Taiwan, are not only strategically shortsighted and ignorant of China’s ambitions, but also threaten their own security.
Claiming that Singaporeans are relatives of Taiwanese, Yeo’s misinterpretation of Taiwan’s hard-won existence is unfortunate. His main points are: Taiwan’s arm forces could not protect the nation if China attacked; for the US, Taiwan is just a component of the first island chain to contain the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and a big cash cow for US’ arms dealers; and the promises are unreliable because Washington cares more about its own interests.
These views are just the same as the propaganda of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The goal of the CCP is to spread defeatism and US skepticism among Taiwanese, eroding their willingness and will to defend their democracy and freedom. This philosophy comes from one of Vladimir Lenin’s famous teachings: The easiest way to capture a fortress is from within.
In conclusion, Yeo said to avoid being ruined by a war with China, Taiwan had better reach an agreement with Beijing sooner rather than later.
His solution is a Chinese commonwealth. He believed that in this framework, Taiwan accepting unification under “one China” would bring peace. In the future, China and Taiwan would accommodate each other and find out what “one China” means.
Again, Yeo’s idea came from China’s policy of “settlement of Taiwan issue.” In a speech at the UN assembly last year, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said that “reunification is the only way for true peace.”
Moreover, Yeo should know well that Beijing’s “one China principle” means the People’s Republic of China is the sole legitimate government of China, and Taiwan is a part of China. Under such a definition, Taiwan is only a regional government without sovereignty. Once it enters this “one China” trap, Taiwan’s democracy and freedom would no longer exist.
Yeo is not the only Singaporean politician accepting China’s perspectives. Kishore Mahbubani (馬凱碩), former Singaporean permanent representative to the UN, is a strong advocate of the “east rising and west falling” (東升西降) theory. Without raising concerns about China’s behavior destabilizing democratic countries, Singaporean Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong (黃循財),who is likely to be Singapore’s next prime minister, said he was concerned that the US and China might “sleepwalk into conflict.”
Located in a peaceful geopolitical environment, Singapore has never faced foreign aggressors since its founding. However, it does not mean that the democracy, freedom and prosperity this country has been enjoying could last indefinitely.
With its hegemonic ambition, authoritarian China is trying to dominate the world. Infringing on several ASEAN countries’ sovereignty in the South China Sea, threatening to invade Taiwan, supporting Russia attacking Ukraine are ominous preludes. If the rules-based world order collapsed, Singapore would not be unaffected.
It is worth noting that when Singapore and the PLA held a joint military exercise in Singapore earlier this month, a news report in the Chinese state-run China Central Television said that the PLA was “going out for a battle” in this overseas drill.
Maybe this report carried a message Singaporean politicians do not like to know.
Tu Ho-ting is a senior journalist and international affairs analyst based in Taiwan.
Why is Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) not a “happy camper” these days regarding Taiwan? Taiwanese have not become more “CCP friendly” in response to the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) use of spies and graft by the United Front Work Department, intimidation conducted by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the Armed Police/Coast Guard, and endless subversive political warfare measures, including cyber-attacks, economic coercion, and diplomatic isolation. The percentage of Taiwanese that prefer the status quo or prefer moving towards independence continues to rise — 76 percent as of December last year. According to National Chengchi University (NCCU) polling, the Taiwanese
It would be absurd to claim to see a silver lining behind every US President Donald Trump cloud. Those clouds are too many, too dark and too dangerous. All the same, viewed from a domestic political perspective, there is a clear emerging UK upside to Trump’s efforts at crashing the post-Cold War order. It might even get a boost from Thursday’s Washington visit by British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. In July last year, when Starmer became prime minister, the Labour Party was rigidly on the defensive about Europe. Brexit was seen as an electorally unstable issue for a party whose priority
US President Donald Trump’s return to the White House has brought renewed scrutiny to the Taiwan-US semiconductor relationship with his claim that Taiwan “stole” the US chip business and threats of 100 percent tariffs on foreign-made processors. For Taiwanese and industry leaders, understanding those developments in their full context is crucial while maintaining a clear vision of Taiwan’s role in the global technology ecosystem. The assertion that Taiwan “stole” the US’ semiconductor industry fundamentally misunderstands the evolution of global technology manufacturing. Over the past four decades, Taiwan’s semiconductor industry, led by Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC), has grown through legitimate means
US President Donald Trump is systematically dismantling the network of multilateral institutions, organizations and agreements that have helped prevent a third world war for more than 70 years. Yet many governments are twisting themselves into knots trying to downplay his actions, insisting that things are not as they seem and that even if they are, confronting the menace in the White House simply is not an option. Disagreement must be carefully disguised to avoid provoking his wrath. For the British political establishment, the convenient excuse is the need to preserve the UK’s “special relationship” with the US. Following their White House
RSS