CHINA’S SABER RATTLING CAUSE FOR CONCERN
CHINA’S SABER RATTLING CAUSE FOR CONCERN
by
Ken Eliasberg
It has been some time since the Far East’s “sleeping giant,” China, awakened, and since then she has not always been friendly in her state of wakefulness. Recently, she has stepped up her saber rattling behavior in a disturbing, and certainly menacing, manner. Two of her recent efforts warrant scrutiny. First, the passage of her Anti-Secessionist Act, an Act aimed directly, and very threateningly, in Taiwan’s direction. The second happening of note involved her agreement for her army to engage in manuevers with the Russian army, an event which, in and of itself, might not be particularly menacing but for the manner in which China first proposed that these manuevers take place.
The Anti-secessionist Act.- On March 14, 2005 China passed an anti-secessionist law which, in summary, authorized the Chinese Army to take whatever action was necessary (in the governing body’s opinon) to prevent Taiwan from seceding. There is little ambiguous about the content of the law, although, as originally offered up for consideration, it had a far friendlier title, i.e. the Unification Act. Although the substance of the law was the same, the title suggested something far more harmonious in nature, i.e. to unify suggests the bringing together of 2 independent units, a bilateral arrangement, if you will. The body of the law was couched in much less “friendly” terms. Recognizing this apparent disparity between substance and form, China relabeled the legislation in anti-secessionist terms. What is clear is that China continues to regard Taiwan as a breakaway province and not an independent sovereign.
While there is nothing new in China’s stance on Taiwan, the law is couched in terms considerably harsher than previous utterances. There is nothing veiled about China’s current threat. And it seems clear to even the less than astute political observer that the threat is not just to Taiwan, but to America or anyone else commited to Taiwan’s defense who might be so bold as to encourage Taiwan to engage in any conduct which might be deemed as tantamount to her declaring her independence.. If there was any doubt about China’s willingness to go to war over this matter, the new law removed any such ambiguity.
Needless to say, the Taiwanese government took a dim view of China’s action - and who could blame them? There is no tone of conciliation let alone friendship in this most recent act - an act which is more than merely threatening in its tone; it is insulting in its lack of respect for Taiwan’s integrity as a body politic.
Russian/Chinese Army Manuevers.- Lest anyone still be confused by China’s word, she endeavored to give even clearer meaning to her words in the context of maneuvers in which she had agreed to have her army participate with the Russian army - Russia having reached out to China in an effort to bring their two countries closer together. China first proposed to have these manuevers take place in Zhejiang province, a coastal province, with the maneuvers to simulate an invasion of Taiwan. How’s that for an effort to make Taiwan feel comfortable? Put yourself in Taiwan’s position - how do you think you would react to such an overtly hostile act? All things considered, Taiwan has reacted rather well; she fully appreciates the delilcacy and difficulty of her position (as well as that of the United States).
U.S. Position.- Speaking of the United States, where does China’s latest gesture leave us? Exactly where we were before - committed to the protection of Taiwan. Any relaxation of our stance in this regard would be much worse than an act of mere hypocrisy or even one of blatant betrayal. It woulld tell the entire world that (1) the United States cannot be trusted, (2) the United States is really a paper tiger, and (3) the United State’s talk about watering the tree of liberty throughout the world is just that - TALK! How could we ever turn our back on a flourishing democracy in whose evolution we had played such an instrumental role and, at the same time, give any credibiity to our efforts to democratize the Middle East - a region that, prior to 1948 with the advent of Isreal, could not even spell democracy, let alone practice it. Even now, our efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq are merely germinal; it will be decades before we can assess democracy’s long term prospects in this region.
Taiwan, on the other hand, is a flourishing democracy, an economic power house, a thoroughly civilized region of the world. In short, it is a little slice of America off the coast of China. And this, probably more than this blather about secession, is the real problem. Taiwan is an American mirror in which China need only look across the straits to see the image of how far she has to go equal what Taiwan has done in less than 40 years. No, we cannot turn our back on Taiwan; she is in large part our creation, and her preservation is in large part our responsibility. To let Taiwan sink, while at the same time issuing all of these pronouncements about spreading democracy througout the world, would be tantamount to talking out of both sides of our mouth.
Where do we go from here, i.e. is there light at the end of this tunnel? I believe that there is, but it will take patience and perseverance. It will also require less saber rattling and more diplomacy. More about the future of this extremely sensitive situation in ensuing columns.