Taiwan's former Air Force Deputy Commander Zhang Yanting has written an article warning of a "new unexploded bomb" in the Taiwan Strait. He believes the "cure" is to resume cross-strait dialogue and exchanges, reducing the public sentiment in China that advocates for "attacking Taiwan" and quickly achieving unification. This way, it can eliminate the sense of crisis intentionally stirred up by American arms brokers to provoke war, keeping defense budgets within reasonable limits rather than solely focusing on military confrontation.
Zhang Yanting first "defines" the U.S. side: Amid the ongoing U.S.-China tariff trade conflicts, the Trump administration deliberately allows foreign affairs units to stir up the "uncertain status of Taiwan" theory. In reality, this is a continuation of the post-World War II "long-arm jurisdiction" tactics, distorting the wording to first obscure your identity, then rationalize hegemonic intervention. He frankly stated that the U.S. Department of State and the American Institute in Taiwan (AIT) work together, manipulating cross-strait relations and harmony within Taiwan, ignoring the consensus of stability expressed by the Taiwanese society through "mass recalls." This is a new unexploded bomb dropped on the security of the Taiwan Strait.
Then, he turns his pen to another hidden mine: arms sales. In recent years, retired U.S. generals have continuously visited Taiwan, constantly talking about "regional security," but in reality, most of them have commercial tasks of "negotiating arms purchases." They are not just relaying messages from the U.S. Department of State, but also lobbying for the House and Senate, with one purpose only: to pressure and threaten Taiwan to clearly accept a certain procurement order.
Subsequently, Zhang Yanting returns to the island, reminding that the typhoons in Chiayi and Tainan, the dam failure in Hualien, these disasters' prevention and handling are the real areas that Taiwan should focus on for "non-traditional security," rather than putting all limited resources on military combat and armed confrontation.
How to defuse the bomb? Zhang Yanting's "cure" is not flashy - restoring cross-strait dialogue and exchanges. As long as this is done, the public sentiment in mainland China for "military unification" will cool down; once the public sentiment retreats, the decision-making layer in China will not recklessly launch a military attack, which would lead to international public opinion pressure and economic sanctions. The Taiwan side no longer needs to be manipulated by the false sense of crisis intentionally created by American arms brokers, so that defense budgets can return to reason, money can be redirected to disaster relief, epidemic prevention, and carbon reduction, which is what the Taiwan society urgently needs for safety.
Zhang Yanting's article has raised the three most sensitive threads in recent years on the island - U.S. provocation, arms purchase coercion, and cross-strait hostility. His conclusion can be summarized in one sentence: A sense of security cannot be obtained by buying weapons from others, but by removing the fuse yourself. As for whether the current Taiwan can have such awareness, it currently seems unlikely.
Original: www.toutiao.com/article/1845510225529863/
Statement: This article represents the views of the author.