The streets of Tokyo over the past few days could have been mistaken for a little Taiwan. Resounding cheers for Taiwan filled the Tokyo Dome at the World Baseball Classic (WBC) last week, with fans packing the stands. Among them was Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰), whose low-profile visit to the stadium on Saturday inevitably attracted attention.
Cho’s seemingly simple act of “baseball diplomacy” broke new ground, overcoming some significant and long-standing political taboos.
The trip was the first time that a sitting premier has stepped foot on Japanese soil since the severing of official relations with Taiwan 54 years ago — something of a home run for high-level visits in the Taiwan-Japan relationship.
The last time an official of equal rank made such a visit was in 1970, when then-premier Yen Chia-kan (嚴家淦) attended Expo ’70 in Osaka. Since then, Taiwan-Japan relations have remained necessarily understated and informal, limited under the shadow of Tokyo’s “one China” policy.
However, more than half a century has passed since then. Cho’s quick trip to Japan, even in his capacity as a private citizen and baseball fan, could never have been achieved without the tacit understanding and support of high-level officials in Taiwan, Japan and, indeed, the US.
The development gives further diplomatic weight to Japan’s affirmation that “a Taiwan contingency is a Japan contingency,” and is a tangible confirmation of Taipei’s position of strategic resilience, as it shuttles between friendly nations in the Indo-Pacific region.
Similar unspoken agreements are also emerging in the South Pacific. The Chinese-language United Daily News reported that General Lu Kun-hsiu (呂坤修), commander of the army headquarters, made several secret trips to the Philippines. That is an important piece of the puzzle for military cooperation in the region.
Lu’s visits reportedly involved negotiations on military base upgrades and cooperation on ammunition supply chains. That would demonstrate that the defense of the first island chain is gradually turning from a matter for individual countries to manage on their own into a collective consensus among Taiwan, Japan and the Philippines under US integration.
Between Cho’s political breakthrough in the north and Lu’s military engagements in the south, Taiwan’s efforts in flexible and comprehensive diplomacy are deftly transforming geopolitical threats into grounds for regional defensive partnerships.
Ironically, Taipei Mayor Chiang Wan-an (蔣萬安) and other Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) politicians have been so preoccupied with calculating the minutia of public funds to be reimbursed that they have, in their shortsightedness, failed to see the forest for the trees and recognize the diplomatic ground being broken.
Of course that shallowness stems from the KMT’s collective anxiety over its own incompetence in diplomacy — a weakness that is rooted in its fear and need to appease China.
The government’s unwavering diplomatic advancements have been met with quibbling over batters paying for their bats. However, in the end, responding to geopolitical breakthroughs with smear tactics only highlights one’s own deficiencies.
Taiwan is continuing to stride confidently onto the world stage. Taiwan must win its diplomatic battle to defend national sovereignty, and ensure that our flag of democracy stands firm against the waves of the Pacific.
Yang Chih-chiang is a teacher.
Translated by Gilda Knox Streader
In the event of a war with China, Taiwan has some surprisingly tough defenses that could make it as difficult to tackle as a porcupine: A shoreline dotted with swamps, rocks and concrete barriers; conscription for all adult men; highways and airports that are built to double as hardened combat facilities. This porcupine has a soft underbelly, though, and the war in Iran is exposing it: energy. About 39,000 ships dock at Taiwan’s ports each year, more than the 30,000 that transit the Strait of Hormuz. About one-fifth of their inbound tonnage is coal, oil, refined fuels and liquefied natural gas (LNG),
On Monday, the day before Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) departed on her visit to China, the party released a promotional video titled “Only with peace can we ‘lie flat’” to highlight its desire to have peace across the Taiwan Strait. However, its use of the expression “lie flat” (tang ping, 躺平) drew sarcastic comments, with critics saying it sounded as if the party was “bowing down” to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Amid the controversy over the opposition parties blocking proposed defense budgets, Cheng departed for China after receiving an invitation from the CCP, with a meeting with
Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) is leading a delegation to China through Sunday. She is expected to meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) in Beijing tomorrow. That date coincides with the anniversary of the signing of the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA), which marked a cornerstone of Taiwan-US relations. Staging their meeting on this date makes it clear that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) intends to challenge the US and demonstrate its “authority” over Taiwan. Since the US severed official diplomatic relations with Taiwan in 1979, it has relied on the TRA as a legal basis for all
To counter the CCP’s escalating threats, Taiwan must build a national consensus and demonstrate the capability and the will to fight. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) often leans on a seductive mantra to soften its threats, such as “Chinese do not kill Chinese.” The slogan is designed to frame territorial conquest (annexation) as a domestic family matter. A look at the historical ledger reveals a different truth. For the CCP, being labeled “family” has never been a guarantee of safety; it has been the primary prerequisite for state-sanctioned slaughter. From the forced starvation of 150,000 civilians at the Siege of Changchun
RSS