By bringing itself closer to its gifted populace, Taiwan’s unique native-born democracy, business community and civil society more effectively and deeply tap into, draw up from and bring into modern expression the timeless wisdom, aptitude and creative genius of the ancient Chinese people, time out of mind.
In marked contrast, in China we see ever so clearly how a style of ruthless communist dictatorship imported from Europe exalts itself ever so arrogantly high above the Chinese public, grabs power for itself which by rights should be theirs, controls the information they are allowed to receive and exchange, strangles their free expression, stifles their independent initiative and smothers their freedom to be who they are and think what they what to think.
By doing so, it very evidently quashes too large a part of the sizeable contribution that can be made by Chinese across the Asian continent and in the various countries which China has been snatching for itself over time, and continues trying to steal today.
In this category, Taiwan comes most readily to mind.
If big China somehow manages to win out over little Taiwan, it would only be because, like all ruthless bullies, it is bigger — not better.
Anybody can see that. Anybody, that is, who has free access to the available information, which those within China do not. Hence this charade continues down through the years, growing ever more ridiculous even as it grows more inevitable that the tyranny in China is not flexible enough to adjust to the changed facts of the situation, no matter what the consequences might be for the planet.
Yes, Taiwan was once part of the Qing Empire. It was also once part of the Japanese Empire. It has since become a free and independent country.
Yes, Taiwanese are predominantly ethnic Chinese.
However, the original settlers of what became the US were predominantly from the British Isles, as are those of Canada, Australia and New Zealand, yet the UK does not claim New Zealand as a “renegade province.”
One wonders how China can get away with what it is doing. Controlling the information that its 1.4 billion people receive might go a long way to explain it.
Too bad it is not yet able to control what information those of us over here in Taiwan get.
Too bad that it cannot seem to manufacture advanced semiconductor chips that this free and independent nation has learned to make.
Too bad that it has not been able to refrain from outright theft of intellectual property belonging to foreign companies operating factories on its soil — thus driving so many of them to Vietnam, India, Mexico and elsewhere, leaving multitudes in China newly unemployed.
Too bad that China has gotten so enamored with building big that it has neglected to construct dams that are more numerous, smaller and better dispersed instead of the monstrosities it so prides itself in, which prove so vulnerable to the wild floods that accompany climate change.
Finally, it is too bad for China that nobody anywhere really wants to involve themselves too much with a country which makes it so clear that it aims to dominate and control the world.
It is far better, and more comfortable, to do business with smaller, more agile and intelligent countries such as Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Norway, Estonia — and Taiwan.
William R. Stimson is a US writer living in Taiwan who has taught an adjunct course at several universities in the country.
In their recent op-ed “Trump Should Rein In Taiwan” in Foreign Policy magazine, Christopher Chivvis and Stephen Wertheim argued that the US should pressure President William Lai (賴清德) to “tone it down” to de-escalate tensions in the Taiwan Strait — as if Taiwan’s words are more of a threat to peace than Beijing’s actions. It is an old argument dressed up in new concern: that Washington must rein in Taipei to avoid war. However, this narrative gets it backward. Taiwan is not the problem; China is. Calls for a so-called “grand bargain” with Beijing — where the US pressures Taiwan into concessions
The term “assassin’s mace” originates from Chinese folklore, describing a concealed weapon used by a weaker hero to defeat a stronger adversary with an unexpected strike. In more general military parlance, the concept refers to an asymmetric capability that targets a critical vulnerability of an adversary. China has found its modern equivalent of the assassin’s mace with its high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) weapons, which are nuclear warheads detonated at a high altitude, emitting intense electromagnetic radiation capable of disabling and destroying electronics. An assassin’s mace weapon possesses two essential characteristics: strategic surprise and the ability to neutralize a core dependency.
Chinese President and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Chairman Xi Jinping (習近平) said in a politburo speech late last month that his party must protect the “bottom line” to prevent systemic threats. The tone of his address was grave, revealing deep anxieties about China’s current state of affairs. Essentially, what he worries most about is systemic threats to China’s normal development as a country. The US-China trade war has turned white hot: China’s export orders have plummeted, Chinese firms and enterprises are shutting up shop, and local debt risks are mounting daily, causing China’s economy to flag externally and hemorrhage internally. China’s
During the “426 rally” organized by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party under the slogan “fight green communism, resist dictatorship,” leaders from the two opposition parties framed it as a battle against an allegedly authoritarian administration led by President William Lai (賴清德). While criticism of the government can be a healthy expression of a vibrant, pluralistic society, and protests are quite common in Taiwan, the discourse of the 426 rally nonetheless betrayed troubling signs of collective amnesia. Specifically, the KMT, which imposed 38 years of martial law in Taiwan from 1949 to 1987, has never fully faced its
RSS