It is time to take China-Taiwan issue seriously
By XIAOXIONG YI
...
At least on one account, the Chinese got it right: the United States is required by law to provide for Taiwan's defense. Moreover, as one senior Bush administration official told the Washington Post recently, Taiwan's president, Chen Shui-bian, "is seven minutes away from elimination, and he faces that threat every day." As a result, our current Taiwan policy is a major departure from long-standing U.S. policy limiting military relations with Taiwan to avoid a confrontation with China. Instead, as John Pomfret of the Washington Post wrote, "the Bush administration has quietly embarked on an ambitious effort to restructure Taiwan's military and improve the island's ability to defend itself against China."
In responding to Bush's Taiwan policy, in his recent interview with the Washington Post's executive editor Leonard Downie Jr., Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao warned that Washington must "recognize the gravity and danger of the provocative remarks and actions taken by the leader of the Taiwan authorities " and "the Chinese will pay any price to safeguard the unity of the motherland."
As Hugo Restall, editorial page editor of the Wall Street Journal, noticed, if Wen's word of warning "sounds like the old Communist Party line, it is. But it is also one that is supported by most Chinese. As primitive as it may sound to Western ears, it must be take seriously. American blood would likely to shed in such a conflict."
Fifty-three years ago, on Nov. 24, 1950, Gen. MacArthur launched his all-out drive toward the Chinese borders and told the troops that they would be home by Christmas. And on Nov. 28, Gen. Bradley phoned President Truman to inform him that MacArthur's forces were being attacked and driven back by 260,000 Chinese troops.
Will history repeat itself? In order to avoid "the wrong war, at the wrong place, at the wrong time, and with the wrong enemy," it is time to take the China-Taiwan issue seriously. We cannot afford to ignore the risks across the Taiwan Straits much longer.
Dr. Xiaoxiong Yi is a professor at Marietta College and Director of East Asia Initiatives.
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