While insisting they don’t support “unilateral changes” to the status quo, US and EU officials won’t criticize Taipei’s blatant provocation
The Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) initiated a significant event, Operation Joint Sword-2024A, on Thursday. It involved the creation of a simulated blockade around the self-governing island of Taiwan, as well as areas around the islands of Kinmen, Matsu, Wuqiu, and Dongyin. It’s worth noting that this is the largest military drill of its kind in a year and follows the recent inauguration of Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te, who has made it clear that he will escalate the issue of formal independence.
During his address, Lai broke his promise of maintaining the status quo with the mainland. As Kathrine Hille, writing for the Financial Times, noted, he “used conspicuously different language, while also spelling out some of the facts that most jar Beijing.”
While Tsai Ing-wen, Lai’s predecessor, would reference “the Beijing authorities” or “the other side of the Strait,” which do not explicitly state that China and Taiwan are separate entities, the new leader mentioned “China” throughout his address.
He referred to “Taiwan” and “the Republic of China, Taiwan,” saying that “some call this land the Republic of China, some call it the Republic of China Taiwan, and some, Taiwan; but whichever of these names we ourselves or our international friends choose to call our nation, we will resonate and shine all the same.”
Referring to Taiwan as a “nation,” Lai quoted the Republic of China’s constitution – the state that lost control of the mainland to Communist forces during the Chinese Civil War in 1949 but still remains in Taiwan – to say that “the Republic of China Taiwan is a sovereign, independent nation in which sovereignty lies in the hands of the people” (of ROC nationality). “This tells us clearly: the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China are not subordinate to each other,” he concluded.
Officials from the Kuomintang (KMT) party, the long-time ruling party before the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP)’s electoral success in recent years, were quick to criticize Lai’s speech. For instance, former Taiwanese leader Ma Ying-jeou’s office harshly criticized him for introducing a “new two-country theory,” adding that his “direct and explicit stance is tantamount to leaning towards Taiwan independence, leading to an unprecedentedly dangerous situation between the two sides of the strait.”
I think war is unavoidable at this point. Just hope the Chinese response completely humiliates the white settler trash war mongers so thoroughly they finally realize their time is up.
Unfortunately, I can’t imagine the US taking a major defeat gracefully. They would rather destroy the world.
It is alarming. I really hope China has put all effort into acquiring more nuclear weapons as fast as possible and putting them on their most advanced hypersonic missiles.
Because a credible threat of not just 300 but 600 or 1000 such weapons is the only thing that can dissuade the west from pulling the nuclear trigger themselves. The Chinese need to have enough deterrence to leave no chance in the minds of western bourgeoisie and planners that if they hit China, even if they take out 25% of their retaliatory capability, that China will have enough to destroy every major US city, ever major US military base, bunkers, industry, ports, infrastructure, staging locations in vassal states like Japan, occupied Korea, Australia, Philippines. They need to have such a deterrent that the western planners can’t argue themselves into thinking that they can hide in a hole and come out on top after. To know for a fact their means of production, their entire military apparatus, the overwhelming majority of their labor force will be thrown into the fire and they’ll win nothing.