Taiwan’s Lai Ching-te call for dialogue with China insincere and hypocritical

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OPINION

By Allawi Ssemanda

In his address to media as he marked one year in office, Taiwan’s leader, Lai Ching-te called for peace and dialogue with China telling reporters that a war would have “no winners” as he voweed that Taiwan would continue to strengthen its defences to ward off what he described as China’s attempt to annex the island by force.

While Lai presented himself as non-confrontational leader, and blaming China for what he called “undermining peace” and claiming that “Taiwan is a peace-loving nation, and our society values goodwill ....I am deeply committed to peace, because peace is priceless, and in war there are no winners,” if critically analysed, Lai’s comments do not reflect reality and are simply a cobweb of politics, smear campaign and futile separatis’ rhetoric.

While Lai professed how he is “deeply committed to peace,” in the same statement, he stressed Taiwan would continue to strengthen its military capabilities and branded China an “aggressor.” In a brazen turn, he called for dialogue with China on equal terms, using what he called exchanges to replace hemming in, dialogue to replace confrontation.

If critically analysed, any one who knows world and Chinese history will frankly agree that for Lai to call on China to enter into dialogue with Taiwan on equal terms will agree that Lai is not only choosing a path of division and confrontation, he is also hypocritical and arguably, he ignores historical facts regarding the Taiwan question which I will explain.

Calling for a dialogue between China and Taiwan on equal terms, Lai is ignoring important facts that Taiwan cannot enter dialogue with China on equal terms because, while China is an independent country backed by international laws, Taiwan is not an independent country and is an inalienable part of China.

From a historical perspective, the argument that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory is backed by facts. The Seaboard Geographic Gazetteer, which was compiled 1,700 years ago by Shen Ying of the State of Wu, highlights three kingdoms of China back then. 

The Seaboard Geographic Gazetteer shows that around the mid-12th Century, different Chinese governments had administrative bodies exercising jurisdiction over Taiwan. A case in point is that the Song Dynasty had a garrison in Penghu and had the Taiwan region under the jurisdiction of Jinjiang County in China’s Fujian.

Also, the Yuan Dynasty had installed patrol and inspection units in Penghu to administer its territory of Taiwan. Even when the units were abolished around mid-16th and towards the end of the 16th century, the Ming Dynasty reintroduced them and stationed reinforcements in Penghu to protect the territory from possible foreign invaders.

Another historical fact is that in 1662, Qing Emperor Kangxi established Chengtian Prefecture on Taiwan, thereby expanding the Qing Dynasty administration there. In 1927, after reconstituting the Prefecture Administration of Taiwan, which incorporated the new Penghu Canton, under Qing Emperor Yongzheng, the territory officially became Taiwan. In 1885, the administration of Qing Emperor Guangxu formally made Taiwan a full province of China.

Leader Lai must also understand that his calls for China to engage Taiwan on equal terms are inconsistent with international laws that recognise China over Taiwan. It is important to recall that during the 26th United Nations General Assembly session, Resolution 2758 was passed and it restored “all its rights to the People’s Republic of China and to recognize the representatives of its government as the only legitimate representatives of China to the United Nations, and to expel forthwith the representatives of the Chiang Kai-shek from the place which they unlawfully occupy at the United Nations and in all the organizations related to it.” 

Considering this, it is clear that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China and anyone instigating the so-called independence of Taiwan is not just an enemy of China and her sovereignty, he is also an enemy of the people of the island who former Taiwaneese leader, Ma Ying-Jeoh in 2023 rightly reminded us that “the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are Chinese and both are descendants of the Yan and Yellow Emperors.”

Therefore, it is high time Mr. Lai climbed down and embarked on uniting the people of the Taiwan Strait with the mainland, since they are the same people. Save that, Lai’s moves contravene other standing agreements, such as the 1992 consensus reached by leaders of both sides. It is also a direct violation of the international rules-based order, especially the UN’s resolution 2758, passed in recognition of the People’s Republic of China over Taiwan. Therefore, expecting China not to react strongly against separatist moves is underestimating China’s resolve and its right and responsibility to protect itself against any threat to its territorial integrity. 

The writer is a research fellow at the Development Watch Centre