Over the past two weeks the contrast between China’s hostility and Taiwan’s peaceful approach has become clear once more for all to see. Beijing is raising tensions further and further, while Taipei is keeping a cool head and is striving for peaceful coexistence.
In his inauguration address on May 20, President William Lai (賴清德) struck a conciliatory tone, and reiterated he would not do anything to change the “status quo.” Lai also said he would like to see a reopening of exchanges across the Taiwan Strait, including Chinese tourist groups coming to Taiwan.
However, he also said that the Republic of China (ROC) and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) are not subordinate to each other, and urged Beijing to stop threatening Taiwan.
He added that Taiwanese must not be under any illusion about the threat from China, and that Taiwan must further strengthen its defenses.
Regrettably, just three days after the inauguration, China commenced large-scale military exercises surrounding Taiwan, called “Joint Sword-2024A.”
Chinese officials said the drills were intended to “serve as a strong punishment for the separatist acts of ‘Taiwan independence’ forces and a stern warning against the interference and provocation by external forces.”
Never mind that the nature and scale of the operations showed they were long-planned, and thus that the PRC was going to conduct them irrespective of what Lai would have said in his inauguration speech.
The next sign of China’s silly and foolhardy intransigence came on Sunday at the Shangri-La Dialogue defense forum in Singapore, where Chinese Minister of National Defense Dong Jun (董軍) made some outrageously offensive statements about Taiwan.
In a long-winded speech mainly focused on Taiwan, Dong — who was only appointed in December last year after his predecessor mysteriously disappeared — warned that Taiwan’s “aggressive” behavior and external forces to abet it were “eroding” the prospects for peaceful “reunification.”
Never mind that “peaceful reunification” is a contradiction in terms, as most observers of Taiwan and China agree that unification would never be peaceful. One only has to look at the examples of Tibet, Xinjiang and Hong Kong. The real “peacefulness” there is that through harsh repression, the people’s voice has been silenced.
Interestingly, Dong also had a meeting with US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin at the forum. Afterward he said that more dialogue was necessary, because of the differences between the two militaries.
“We have always been open to exchanges and cooperation, but this requires both sides to meet each other halfway,” he said.
The problem with Dong’s statement is that they are just empty words. In its relations with Taiwan, China has cut off all exchanges with the democratically elected Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) government since 2016, in spite of the readiness and willingness of the DPP government — both of former president Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) and Lai — to sit down on an equal basis without preconditions.
The international community needs to clearly understand the difference between Lai’s peaceful and moderate approach, and China’s ratcheting up the pressure and raising tensions in the region through its irresponsible words and actions.
To prevent a conflict from happening it is essential for the international community to double its collective efforts to make clear to the Beijing authorities that their current policies would be detrimental to peace and stability in the region, and thus seriously damage China’s own economic interests and standing in the world.
Gerrit van der Wees is a former Dutch diplomat who teaches Taiwan history and US relations with East Asia at George Mason University, and previously taught at the George Washington University Elliott School for International Affairs in Washington.
It is employment pass renewal season in Singapore, and the new regime is dominating the conversation at after-work cocktails on Fridays. From September, overseas employees on a work visa would need to fulfill the city-state’s new points-based system, and earn a minimum salary threshold to stay in their jobs. While this mirrors what happens in other countries, it risks turning foreign companies away, and could tarnish the nation’s image as a global business hub. The program was announced in 2022 in a bid to promote fair hiring practices. Points are awarded for how a candidate’s salary compares with local peers, along
China last month enacted legislation to punish —including with the death penalty — “die-hard Taiwanese independence separatists.” The country’s leaders, including Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), need to be reminded about what the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has said and done in the past. They should think about whether those historical figures were also die-hard advocates of Taiwanese independence. The Taiwanese Communist Party was established in the Shanghai French Concession in April 1928, with a political charter that included the slogans “Long live the independence of the Taiwanese people” and “Establish a republic of Taiwan.” The CCP sent a representative, Peng
Japan and the Philippines on Monday signed a defense agreement that would facilitate joint drills between them. The pact was made “as both face an increasingly assertive China,” and is in line with Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s “effort to forge security alliances to bolster the Philippine military’s limited ability to defend its territorial interests in the South China Sea,” The Associated Press (AP) said. The pact also comes on the heels of comments by former US deputy national security adviser Matt Pottinger, who said at a forum on Tuesday last week that China’s recent aggression toward the Philippines in
The Ministry of National Defense on Tuesday announced that the military would hold its annual Han Kuang exercises from July 22 to 26. Military officers said the exercises would feature unscripted war games, and a decentralized command and control structure. This year’s exercises underline the recent reforms in Taiwan’s military as it transitions from a top-down command structure to one where autonomy is pushed down to the front lines to improve decisionmaking and adaptability. Militaries around the world have been observing and studying Russia’s war in Ukraine. They have seen that the Ukrainian military has been much quicker to adapt to