Just last week a caller asked if I could do a show on Taiwan. It shows how sharp our listeners are. Sure enough, Taiwan has just now popped up in the news.
According to the Taiwan News — Fifteen Chinese military aircraft entered Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) on Sunday (Jan. 24), marking the 20th intrusion this month.
Two Chinese Army Air Force Y-8 anti-submarine warfare planes, two SU-30 fighter jets, four J-16 fighter planes, six J-10 jet fighters, and one Y-8 reconnaissance plane conducted sorties in the southwest corner of Taiwan’s air defense zone, according to the Ministry of National Defense (MND).
In response, the Taiwan military scrambled fighter jets, broadcast radio warnings, and deployed air defense missile systems to track the Chinese planes.
The 15 Chinese planes on Sunday are the highest number of planes spotted on a single-day in Taiwan’s air space so far this year.
Since mid-September of last year, Beijing has been regularly sending planes into Taiwan’s air space. Most instances occurring in the southwest corner of the zone involved one to three Chinese aircraft, usually reconnaissance planes.
The U.S. military announced on Sunday the Theodore Roosevelt Carrier Strike Group (TRCSG) had entered the disputed South China Sea on Jan. 23 to promote “freedom of the seas.”
According to the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, “The carrier is on a scheduled deployment to the U.S. 7th Fleet to ensure freedom of seas, build partnerships that foster maritime security, and conduct a wide range of operations.”
So what do the Taiwanese have to say about this?
Taiwanese military analysts said Sunday (Jan. 24) the weekend’s record number of Chinese military planes flying into Taiwan’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ) symbolize Beijing’s commitment to the “one China” principle and also serve as a test for the Joe Biden administration.
Have I not said that the rest of the world is watching our internal strife and would soon challenge us?
Lin Ying-yu, an assistant professor at the Institute of Strategic and International Affairs at National Chung Cheng University, said there were three major reasons behind the air space incursions: diplomatic, military, and “transfer of internal pressure”.
In terms of diplomacy, Lin pointed out that Beijing wanted to convey to Washington that no matter which party is in the White House, Democrat or Republican, China’s policy toward Taiwan will never change.
Militarily, the exercises were in response to the USS Theodore Roosevelt strike group conducting operations in the South China Sea on Saturday.
Lin speculated the strike group’s training may have included submarines, thereby explaining why Chinese H-6K bombers were seen armed with anti-ship missiles.
Regarding internal pressure, Lin said that Beijing hoped to divert attention from a recent increase of COVID-19 outbreaks across China.
By conducting military operations, it would demonstrate to its citizens the Chinese military has not suffered from the epidemic and is still able to fight.
Lieutenant General Chang Yen-ting a retired Air Force deputy commander, stated the Chinese incursions into Taiwan’s airspace on Saturday and Sunday are akin to “hitting three birds with one stone.”
Chang observed that in contrast to former President Donald Trump’s unpredictable style, Biden’s approach to regional diplomacy seems easier to grasp. Therefore, China dispatched its military planes as a “stress test” to see how Biden would react.
Chang also pointed out that although the H-6K bomber is a slow aircraft, it is a variant designed for offensive missions with a maximum range of up to 5,000 kilometers. The presence of such a plane proves the Chinese Air Force has transformed from a defensive air force to an offensive one, he stated.
The retired commander said that China’s operations were “obviously targeted toward the U.S.” and were meant to “militarily intimidate Taiwan.”
Chang suggested that Taiwan must avoid any incidents that could spark an all-out war.
Good grief folks. All-out war with China? Who are theses guys? Why does everyone seem focused on Taiwan, an island 100 miles off the coast of mainland China?
Well how about a little history?
An article by Kallie Szczepanski, found at ThoughtCo .com in August of 202 gives us some of the facts and history of Taiwan.
When Japan surrendered at the end of World War II, they signed control of Taiwan over to mainland China.
However, since China was embroiled in the Chinese Civil War, the United States was supposed to serve as the primary occupying power in the immediate post-war period.
Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalist government, the Koumintang Party, disputed American occupation rights in Taiwan and set up a Republic of China (ROC) government there in October of 1945.
After the war, the Taiwanese people greeted the Chinese as liberators from harsh Japanese rule, but the ROC soon proved corrupt and inept.
Who is Chiang Kai Shek? Glad you asked.
In 1925, Chiang succeeded Sun Yat-sen as leader of the Chinese Nationalist Party, known as the Kuomintang, or KMT. As head of the KMT, Chiang expelled the communist arm of the party and succeeded in unifying China.
Under Chiang, the KMT focused on preventing the spread of Communism in China and fighting increasing Japanese aggression.
When the United States declared war on Japan in 1941, Chiang and China swore their allegiance and assistance to the Allies.
You heard me right. Chiank Kai Shek was our ally in WWII.
He and his brother in law, Sun Yat Sen were fighting a civil war in China prior to the outbreak of the war. The Koumintang Party of Chiang Kai Shek was fighting against the old samurai class of warlords who ruled China at the time.
Now not wanting to be left out, the Chinese Communist party now jumps into the civil war.
So, Sun Yat Sen and Chiang Kai Shek are fighting Samurai warlords and communists in the civil war prior to WWII breaking out. Sun Yat Sen died and leadership of the party now passed to Chiang Kai Shek.
Chiang Kai Shek wants a parliamentary form of government like that of the British.
Seeing the internal strife of the civil war, Japan saw it as the perfect opportunity to attack and take China.
When the world war breaks out, we now ally with Chiang Kai Shek in fighting against the Japanese invasion of China.
See what I am saying?!
After WWII the Chinese civil war resumed and in 1946, Communist forces led by Mao Zedong, a.k.a. Chairman Mao, overthrew Chiang and created the People’s Republic of China.
Chiang Kai Shek and his party now fled to Taiwan.
From 1949 until his death in 1975, the exiled Chiang continued to lead the Koumintang government in Taiwan, recognized by the United Nations as the legitimate government of China.
Chiang Kai-shek never relinquished his claim over mainland China; likewise, the People’s Republic of China continued to claim sovereignty over Taiwan.
The United States, preoccupied with the occupation of Japan, abandoned the Koumintang in Taiwan to its fate, fully expecting that the Communists would soon route Chiang Kai Shek’s party from the island.
When the Korean War broke out in 1950, however, the US changed its position on Taiwan.
President Harry S Truman sent the American Seventh Fleet into the Straits between Taiwan and the mainland to prevent the island from falling to the Communists.
The US has supported Taiwanese independence ever since.
This brings us to the Cold War period and I found more great info in an article by Lauren Mack at ThoughtCo.com written on Aug. 28, 2020.
US military intervention forced Mao’s government to delay its plan to invade Taiwan. At the same time, with US backing, Chiang Kai Shek’s regime on Taiwan continued to hold China’s seat in the United Nations.
Aid from the US and a successful land reform program helped Chiag Kai Shek’s Republic of China government solidify its control over the island and modernize the economy.
However, under the fear of ongoing civil war, Chiang Kai-shek continued to suspend the ROC constitution and Taiwan remained under martial law.
Chiang’s government began allowing local elections in the 1950s, but the central government remained under authoritarian one-party rule by the Koumintang party.
Chiang promised to fight back and recover the mainland and built up troops on islands off the Chinese coast still under Taiwan’s control.
In 1954, an attack by Chinese Communist forces on those islands led the US to sign a Mutual Defense Treaty with Chiang’s government.
When a second military crisis over the ROC-held offshore islands in 1958 led the US to the brink of war with Communist China, Washington forced Chiang Kai-shek to officially abandon his policy of fighting back to regain the mainland.
However, Chiang remained committed to recovering the mainland through an anti-communist propaganda war.
After Chiang Kai-shek’s death in 1975, his son Chiang Ching-kuo led Taiwan through a period of political, diplomatic and economic transition and rapid economic growth.
In 1972, the ROC (Chiang’s party) lost its seat in the United Nations to the People’s Republic of China (Mao’s Party).
In 1979, the United States switched diplomatic recognition from Taipei Taiwan, to Beijing China, and ended it military alliance with the ROC on Taiwan.
That same year, the US Congress passed the Taiwan Relations Act, which commits the U.S. to help Taiwan defend itself from attack by the PRC.
Meanwhile, on the Chinese mainland, the Communist Party regime in Beijing began a period of “reform and opening” after Deng Xiao-ping took power in 1978.
Beijing changed its Taiwan policy from armed “liberation” to “peaceful unification” under the “one country, two systems” framework. At the same time, the PRC refused to renounce the possible use of force against Taiwan.
Despite Deng’s political reforms, Chiang Ching-kuo continued a policy of “no contact, no negotiation, no compromise” toward the Communist Party regime in Beijing.
The younger Chiang’s strategy for recovering the mainland focused on making Taiwan into a “model province” that would demonstrate the shortcomings of the communist system in mainland China.
Through government investment in high-tech, export-oriented industries, Taiwan experienced an “economic miracle” and its economy became one of Asia’s ‘four little dragons.’
In 1987, shortly before his death, Chiang Ching-kuo lifted martial law in Taiwan, ending the 40-year suspension of the ROC constitution and allowing political liberalization to begin.
In the same year, Chiang also allowed people in Taiwan to visit relatives on the mainland for the first time since the end of the Chinese Civil War.
Under Lee Teng-hui, the ROC’s first Taiwan-born president, Taiwan experienced a transition to democracy and a Taiwanese identity distinct from China emerged among the island’s people.
Through a series of constitutional reforms, the ROC government went through a process of ‘Taiwanization.’
While officially continuing to claim sovereignty over all of China, the ROC recognized PRC control over the mainland and declared that the ROC government currently represents only the people of Taiwan and the ROC-controlled offshore islands of Penghu, Jinmen, and Mazu.
The ban on opposition parties was lifted, allowing the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) to compete with the KMT in local and national elections.
Internationally, the ROC recognized the PRC while campaigning for the ROC to regain its seat in the United Nations and other international organizations.
In the 1990s, the ROC government maintained an official commitment to Taiwan’s eventual unification with the mainland but declared that in the current stage the PRC and ROC were independent sovereign states.
The Taipei government also made democratization in mainland China a condition for future unification talks.
The number of people in Taiwan who viewed themselves as “Taiwanese” rather than “Chinese” rose dramatically during the 1990s and a growing minority advocated eventual independence for the island.
In 1996, Taiwan witnessed its first direct presidential election, won by incumbent president Lee Teng-hui of the KMT. Prior to the election, the PRC launched missiles into the Taiwan Strait as a warning that it would use force to prevent Taiwan’s independence from China.
In response, the US sent two aircraft carriers to the area to signal its commitment to defend Taiwan from a PRC attack.
In 2000, Taiwan’s government experienced its first party turnover when the candidate of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), Chen Shui-bian, won the presidential election.
The Communist Party regime in Beijing worried that Chen was moving Taiwan toward legal independence from China and in 2005 passed the Anti-Secession Law authorizing the use of force against Taiwan to prevent its legal separation from the mainland.
Tensions across the Taiwan Strait and slow economic growth helped the KMT return to power in the 2008 presidential election, won by Ma Ying-jeou. Ma promised to improve relations with Beijing and promote cross-Strait economic exchange while maintaining the political status.
Despite this thawing in relations between Taipei and Beijing and increased economic integration across the Taiwan Strait, there has been little sign in Taiwan of increased support for political unification with the mainland.
While the independence movement has lost some momentum, the vast majority of Taiwan’s citizens support a continuation of the status quo of de facto independence from China.
So there you have it folks.
Taiwan and China have been at odds since the end of WWII. We have said we will continue to support Taiwan, but now we have a new president who has shown he is willing to work with China.
What do you think? Should we cut our losses and throw Taiwan under the bus?
Or should we stand our ground and risk WWIII?