Don't Dance to Beijing's Tune

Abstract

Andrew Nathan's article provides an exaggerated view of the Chinese Communists' perception of threat across the Taiwan Strait. It takes a rather one-sided perspective in interpreting China's security interests as if the People's Republic of China (PRC) is a hegemonic power which has a right to impose its will on Taiwan and the world. That Andrew Nathan would blame Taiwan's democratic aspirations rather than PRC expansionism and hegemonism for the crisis in the Taiwan Strait and the troubles in Sino-US relations is hard to believe. Likewise, Nathan fails to acknowledge the reality of Taiwan ? a sovereign nation with a political and economic system separate and distinct from the PRC's. By taking a China-centred perspective, Nathan's article fails to take account of the position and vital interests of other actors in the Asia-Pacific region, notably Taiwan itself and the United States. Nathan asserts that China is merely acting to defend its security interests when it seeks to isolate Taiwan and to force it into an accommodation on China's terms. In the context of what China sees as an emerging American containment policy and the long-term possibility of Japanese rearmament ? and hence that China may be surrounded by hostile nations ? it is rational, according to Nathan, for China to seek to gain control over Taiwan so as to prevent it from becoming a base for a potential enemy. But what evidence is there to indicate that PRC leaders like Jiang Zemin, Li Peng and Qiao Shi really hold the unrealistic and paranoid view of China's international environment that Nathan's article implies? Is it really possible for Taiwan to align itself with China's potential enemies, as the PRC fears, and to serve as an 'unsinkable aircraft carrier' from which such enemies could launch attacks on China? That seems highly unlikely in the absence of any organized political force in Taiwan that favours such a course of action. Even now, the ruling Kuomingtang (KMT) and its splinter group, the New Party, are calling for Taiwan's eventual reunification with China, while the independence-minded Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is looking for Taiwan to become the 'Switzerland of East Asia' ? a neutral and peace-loving nation, not a Japanese or US colony, and certainly not a nation unfriendly or hostile to its neighbour across the Taiwan Strait. It is critical to keep in mind Taiwan's history. From 1895 to 1945, Taiwan was a Japanese colony and its people suffered under Japanese occupation. When the KMT took over Taiwan in 1945, however, it imposed a highly