The US Is above Suspicion, China Is beneath It

Despite the goodwill expressed in President Lai Ching-te’s inaugural address to “neither yield nor provoke, and maintain the status quo,” China is still conducting military maneuvers around Taiwan, making it clear that the Chinese attitude is to destroy Taiwan, whether it refers to itself as Taiwan, the Republic of China or the ROC.

Those Chinese military drills have exposed their own shortcomings: Military experts have spotted the troops embarrassingly low mobilization capacity and disjointedness, while the sinking of the engineering ship, the Lianhe Qirui, in the East China Sea has shown that logistics are as flimsy as paper, and that China does not even dare to offer up an explanation. China’s aggressions wash over Taiwan, wavelike, but its ability to pose an actual threat is dubious in the extreme.

It is not just China’s military that is dubious; its economy is, too. Wine sales have fallen by 25%, sales of Swiss watches in China have plummeted by more than 40%, Italian boutique shoe sales have fallen by 25%, Qantas has canceled flights to Shanghai due to low demand, and Hong Kong closed down 20,000 companies in the first quarter. It is not just the high-end consumer market that has collapsed; the bottom also has fallen out of the low-end consumer market.

In the wake of China’s recent campaign to get Taiwanese artists to retweet Chinese threats against Taiwan, as well as Taiwanese rock band Mayday’s concert in Beijing, during which they referred to themselves as “Chinese,” Lai has shown understanding, saying that the artists had “come under pressure under someone else’s roof.” This could have been the president recalling [Chi Mei Corporation founder] Hsu Wen-lung having to pen an “anti-secession” open letter, in tears, due to the threat to the personal safety of China-based Taiwanese Chi Mei employees by the Chinese Communist Party.

But times have changed. Back then, in Hsu’s day, there really were huge business opportunities to be had in going to China. Now that the Chinese consumer market has clearly collapsed, and the market there for arts, culture and entertainment will follow suit, Mayday might reasonably wonder how much longer tickets for its shows in China will still find buyers.

In contrast, the United States’ security commitment to Taiwan has always been rock solid, regardless of diplomatic rhetoric. Speaking at the invitation of the Formosa Republican Association (of which this commentator is chairman of the board) on May 21, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, the main secretary of state during the Trump era, elaborated on how the U.S. would assist in defending Taiwan in the event of a Chinese invasion: “We’ll be there.”

This is a phrase first uttered by President George W. Bush, and after Donald Trump, Democratic President Joe Biden has likewise ratcheted up aid to Taiwan and resistance to China, so it is evidently an unchanging, fundamental national policy of the U.S. Pompeo, a U.S. military veteran, has revealed that during his service, he was keenly aware that the U.S. military had never slipped into complacency and had always been well-prepared, regarding defense of Taiwan as its responsibility.

Pompeo also made a point of stating that he was here to support Taiwanese democracy not as a former secretary of state or as a Republican, but as an advocate of democracy and the basic principles of international law. He went on to say that American defense of Taiwan was a moral obligation and not just a legal one, that it was a commitment to democracy and to the self-determination of the people, and that these principles were the cornerstones of international law and order. It was not just about “protecting a small island democracy; it’s about preserving a strategic frontier, upholding international law, safeguarding economic interests, and maintaining global peace and stability,” he said.

From this, the U.S.’ determination to defend Taiwan makes complete sense, and the “America Skepticism Theory” can be considered utterly lacking in basic common sense regarding international affairs and democracy. What emerges now more clearly than before is that Taiwan’s opposition party — the advocate of the America Skepticism Theory — actually disrupted Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan while it was in session, right at the time of China’s military exercises around the island and openly echoing Xi Jinping’s threats. Behavior such as this is not only traitorous toward Taiwan; it makes of the opposition party a public enemy to humankind. The real question that ought to be asked is: What are these people really up to?

The author is board chairman of the Formosa Republican Association and president of the Taiwan United Nations Alliance.