We should recognize the Communist proposal for what it really is: a self-serving attempt to deceive the American government and people into believing that the CCP is peaceful and reasonable. The Chinese Communist leaders are well aware that a crucial debate is taking place in America over whether to sell the Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan more up-to-date weapons for defense. They realize that the qualitative edge which the armed forces of the ROC on Taiwan enjoy has been a major deterrent to their dream of communizing the island. If the sales are blocked, that edge will be dulled, and Taipei, they reason, will then become more amenable to "reunification" terms of their liking.
But first the U.S. must be convinced that there is no real need to upgrade Taiwan's defensive capability. To accomplish that, the CCP must present an image of peacefulness, reasonableness, and even magnanimity. Hence the nature and timing of the current peace offensive.
A number of our friends abroad have faulted Taiwan for not being more receptive to the Communist offer. They believe that our out-of-hand rejection of the overture places us in the light of being inflexible and recalcitrant. Indeed, discrediting the ROC on Taiwan can be seen as one of the major reasons for the CCP'S peace offensive, since it knew fully well in advance that our response to such overtures would be a resounding “No."
We must understand that the words and intentions of the Chinese Communists are neither sincere nor peaceful. Their earlier negotiations with the Chinese national government, with the Tibetans (who are also promised "autonomy"), and with others, have produced only broken promises and unfulfilled commitments. Their invasion of Korea in 1950, of India in 1962, and the more recent incursion to "punish" Vietnam, as well as their repressive internal measures, show clearly that the CCP is committed to war and repression as primary instruments of policy.
We have just completed a heated election campaign on the island and elected 189 officials from among 479 candidates of varying political persuasions. A great many candidates, including those who have at times expressed impatience with the pace of political progress in Taiwan, were extremely outspoken in their opposition to the proposals from the Chinese Communists. Only the CCP, it would seem, believes that negotiation is an issue to be resolved solely by leaders of the two ruling parties on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. On Taiwan we have something called public opinion to contend with.
Still another disturbing question comes to mind: Could the CCP be expected to stand by any long-term commitment it might make with the ROC government on Taiwan? Once again, the past provides a telling indictment. The "hundred flowers" and "anti-rightist" campaigns, the purging of Liu Shao-chi, the Lin Piao incident, and, more recently, the demise of the "Gang of Four" - all suggest a political structure racked by factionalism and upheaval. Experience has taught us that the king of the mountain on the China mainland today may well be tomorrow's pariah. And a successor to a disgraced leader would feel little compunction over breaking an agreement made by his predecessor.
The people of the U.S. should carefully consider a number of important factors before they reach a decision on the sale of weapons to Taiwan or take a position on Taiwan's "reunification."
First, the military hardware Taiwan wishes to purchase from the U.S. is purely defensive and will be used only to deter a Chinese Communist invasion. That invasion will never come as long as Taiwan's defenses remain strong. On the other hand, failure to upgrade Taiwan's defensive capability will definitely disturb the regional balance of power by tempting the CCP to take by force what it is unable to acquire by other means. In a word, the withholding of U.S. weapons sales to Taiwan will increase, rather than decrease, tensions in the East Asian region.
Second, the U.S. has put itself on record time and again as the champion of freedom and economic progress. To push Taiwan into the Chinese Communist trap is inconsistent with such pronouncements. The people on the China mainland would gain little from the CCP's proposed "reunification," while the 18 million people on Taiwan would lose virtually all the political and economic freedoms they have won over the last three decades.
Taiwan today stands as a model of successful socio-economic development and as an attractive alternative to all that the CCP stands for. Moreover, the existence of a free, prosperous Taiwan is a stabilizing force for the free world in East Asia.
Finally, I would like to help dispel the common but erroneous notion that Taiwan is fundamentally opposed to peaceful reunification, that it will never, under any circumstances, negotiate with the CCP. The free Chinese in Taiwan want to see China unified but insist that this must take place under conditions that ensure the political and economic freedoms of the Chinese people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
Such conditions can exist only after the CCP has completely abandoned the ideology and practices of Communism that have served it so poorly these last 30 years, and after it has effectively demonstrated to the world that it wants a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people." And when that day comes, the so-called China issue will no longer be a problem.
K.T. Li is Minister of State in the government of the Republic of China