China

Fire of Liberty

China, the big bully of Asia, seems to be rattling its saber at the tiny island nation of Taiwan. Even though the people of Taiwan elect their own parliament, PM, and President, the Chinese mainland insist on the two systems one China policy and are willing to use force to unite them. Well the Chinese have decided to up the ante by pushing through an anti-seccessionist bill. Though it has been presented to the National People's Congress (NPC) for a vote next week, this new legislation has prompted a considerable amount worry amongst security experts in Taiwan and the US. When the law comes into effect, the Chinese mainland would actually make it legal to invade Taiwan if it declared its independence. Though the Chinese have said this law is to ensure a peaceful re-unification of these two systems, you wouldn't know that by reading what Wang Zhaoguo, a senior delegate of the NPC , had to say about it the law. According to The Financial Times:

Mr Wang said that under the law, the state “shall employ non-peaceful means and other necessary measures” if Taiwanese independence forces “under any name or by any means” caused Taiwan's secession; if “major incidents entailing Taiwan's secession” should occur, or in case “possibilities for a peaceful reunification should be completely exhausted”.

With such ambiguous language, the Chinese could say anything constitutes Taiwan's move for independence and thus initiate a war between Taiwan and China. Such a conflagaration would also drag us into the fray because we're obligated under an 1979 Taiwan Relations Act to respond to any threat on Taiwan by Chinese mainland. While the fear of China invading Taiwan has always been on the radar screen of conservatives and supporters of Taiwan, this act could rise this to a Worldly plane. What, with the Chinese boosting their missile sites across the Taiwan Strait to some 1,000 plus missiles, the buildup of a deep blue navy as well as their military budget being increased by some 13%, one should be a tad bit concerned. With such an increased military capacity and the creation of this new anti-secessionist law, the United States and Taiwan expressed their concern for the passage of such a bill. Take a look at what White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan and Taiwan had to say:

“The draft law that was presented allows for punitive measures directed at Taiwan,” added Mr McClellan. “We oppose any attempts to determine the future of Taiwan by anything other than peaceful means.”

Taiwan condemned the law as a “vicious and brutal” attempt to deny its people freedom of choice and to destroy regional peace, saying it would give the Chinese military “a blank cheque to invade Taiwan”.

Also, check out this article on the ant-session law in The Times as well as this piece over @ Tech Central Station.