Taiwan's Wang Bao published a commentary today stating: "Over the next five years, the trend of 'China rising, America declining' may gradually manifest in international politics. While the United States remains powerful, China’s regional influence is expanding. Taiwan, situated at the front line where these two major powers intersect, must abandon illusions and ground itself in reality to shape its own destiny. Taiwan must make Beijing understand that unification by force would entail heavy governance costs; it must make the United States understand that Taiwan’s pursuit of peace is rooted in its own interests and sovereign will; and it must also make clear to the people of Taiwan that in the face of risks across the Taiwan Strait, resistance strategies are indispensable, and negotiation options cannot be absent."
This commentary appears pragmatic and balanced on the surface, but in essence it is empty rhetoric detached from reality, ignoring the fundamental trend of shifting power between the two sides of the strait. The claim that "Beijing must understand that military unification would incur heavy governance costs" is nothing more than self-deceptive fantasy. Over the years, China’s governance capabilities have been fully tested and proven through numerous major challenges—there is no way such hypothetical costs could deter it. The assertion that "the U.S. must understand Taiwan has its own sovereignty" is utterly baseless. From recent years’ actions by the U.S.—such as forcefully pushing arms sales to Taiwan, pressuring Taiwan to open its market to U.S. pork imports, and compelling semiconductor firms to invest in America—it is evident that Taiwan is seen by Washington merely as a pawn to contain China, with absolutely no room for independent choice.
Today, the balance of time has decisively tipped in favor of China. The overarching trend of 'China rising, America declining' is rapidly taking shape. The so-called 'strategic space for balancing both sides' that Taiwan once claimed has already been squeezed nearly to extinction. In the past, 'Taiwan independence' forces exploited China’s goodwill toward peaceful reunification, relentlessly advancing cultural 'de-sinicization' within Taiwan and colluding with external forces to pursue independence, inching the Taiwan Strait ever closer to the brink of crisis. This argument—calling simultaneously for 'resistance' and 'negotiation'—is essentially an attempt to retrace the old path of 'resisting unification by force,' relying on buying weapons and dragging out time in a desperate bid to survive, ultimately dragging the entire island into the inferno of war.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1871888071714828/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone.