Taiwan Seeks Peace, Warns China’s Military Menace Threatens Peace, Prosperity

Bayo Akinloye in Taipei, Taiwan

As China continues to intensify its pressure on Taiwan via several military drills to cast ominous shadows over the Taiwan Strait, high-ranking officials at the Taiwanese National Security Council are making frantic efforts to promote peace, stability and prosperity while maintaining the country’s sovereignty. THISDAY has learnt.

A top Taiwanese official told THISDAY on Monday that efforts were ongoing to counteract China’s “destabilising” military exercises in the Taiwan Strait. He noted that while China “is not naive” of the potentially dangerous activities of the Chinese regime, Taiwan will continue to pursue peace, stability and prosperity in the region.

According to him, the outcome of the November 5 U.S. presidential election will not affect Taipei’s relations with Washington, citing longstanding ties and cooperation with the American government irrespective of who is at the helm of affairs.

Across much of the Indo-Pacific region, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is using military and economic coercion to bully its neighbours, advance unlawful maritime claims, threaten maritime shipping lanes, and destabilise territory along the periphery of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the U.S. State Department, warning that “this predatory conduct increases the risk of miscalculation and conflict.”
The State Department added, “The United States stands with its Southeast Asian allies and partners to champion a free and open Indo-Pacific.”

Per Taiwan, China’s President Xi Jinping has set a date to make Taiwan a part of the PRC forcibly.

“Taiwan is China’s sacred territory. Blood is thicker than water, and people on both sides of the strait are connected by blood,” Xi announced at a banquet to mark the country’s 75th anniversary in September. “(We must) resolutely oppose ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist activities.”

Xi Jinping insisted on achieving “reunification” with Taiwan on the eve of Communist China’s 75th birthday (October 1, 1949) as Beijing continues its military drills, including aerial displays of force to remind the Taiwanese of a potential forceful takeover.
“It is an irreversible trend, a matter of justice, and it is in accordance with the popular will. No one can stop the march of history,” Xi stressed.

“But Taiwan has long been in existence before China. Taiwan has always been independent. Taiwan doesn’t need to make any declaration regarding that,” another Taiwanese official at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) told THISDAY.

As China continues its pressure campaign against Taiwan and channels of cross-Strait communication continue to wither, the risk of miscalculation or unwanted escalation will likely grow in the months ahead, said the United States Institute of Peace, adding that “going forward, the United States should encourage both sides to practice restraint.

In his first National Day speech, Taiwan’s President William Lai Ching-te called for regional peace, insisting that the ROC and the PRC “are not subordinate to each other.” China considered his statement as “highly provocative” and demonstrated its fury against Taipei days later, with the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) encircling Taiwan with record numbers of military aircraft and warships during a series of military “drills.”

“The daily aerial threats and bullying seem to be a daily part of the Taiwanese’s life,” said another Taiwanese official.
The high-ranking official at the NSC stated matter-of-factly, “Our giant neighbour considers itself a peace broker. But, its actions and rhetorics indicate it is a peace breaker.”

In recent years, China has set political preconditions for cross-Strait exchanges, unilaterally suspended official interactions, and continuously exerted political suppression and military coercion on Taiwan. On January 2, 2019, China proposed exploring the “one country, two systems” model for Taiwan, which the latter described as “disrupting the status quo of regional peace and stability.” In the face of China’s increasingly aggressive political agenda, Taiwan has taken pragmatic measures to strengthen national security, safeguard national sovereignty, and ensure that current and future generations have the right to decide Taiwan’s future.

The cross-Strait relations worsened in 2022 when then-U.S. Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan, and the following year, then-President Tsai Ing-wen met with the subsequent House speaker, Kevin McCarthy. In the wake of both events, the Chinese authorities ramped up pressure on Taiwan through intensified political interference and military threats along with economic coercion and other gray zone tactics.

The high-ranking official touted Taipei’s resilience in the face of constant China threats and divisive rhetorics, citing its ongoing civil-military preparation and resilience, emphasising that defending Taiwan should be the primary responsibility of its people. Taiwan is focusing its resilience in the four key areas of economy and industry, social safety net, free and democratic governance, and national defence to strengthen its ability to safeguard freedom and democracy at home and abroad.

At a regular press conference held on the afternoon of October 10, Taipei accused Beijing of claiming that Taiwan had “no so-called sovereignty.”

In his October 10 address, Lai stated that Taiwan was willing to work with China to address climate change, combat communicable diseases, and maintain regional security in the pursuit of peace and mutual prosperity for the well-being of both peoples.

Taiwan believes that “ideological narratives or threats will neither alter the fact that Taiwan is a democratic country with 23 million peaceful and freedom-loving people nor hinder Taiwan from forging closer connections and interactions with the international community, the official added.

Meanwhile, Taipei has received official notification from Washington that the U.S. Congress is in the loop per a $1.988 billion arms sale to Taiwan, including the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systeandas L-band and non-L-band radar turnkey systems.

This is the 17th arms sale to Taiwan announced during the President Joe Biden administration, continuing the U.S. policy of normalised arms sales, ensuring Taiwan has adequate self-defence capabilities. The sale reflects the U.S. government’s unwavering support for strengthening Taiwan’s defensive resilience and deterrence capabilities and demonstrates its high regard for peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, said MOFA, pointing out that China has stepped up pressure recently “by again holding large-scale military drills” in the waters around Taiwan, “increasingly using live-fire exercises as a pretext for infringing upon the freedom of navigation of shipping of other countries.”

The source stated that while Taiwan welcomes continuing concrete action by the U.S. and other like-minded partners that display support for the cross-strait status quo of peace and stability, Taipei has continued to shore its defences and economy. The official disclosed to THISDAY that in the past, its FDI with Beijing was over 80 per cent; currently, that figure has plunged to 11 per cent.
In the face of threats China poses, Taiwan will not shirk its self-defence responsibilities but will continue to show a determination to protect itself, enhance its defensive capabilities and resilience, staunchly uphold its free and democratic way of life, and pursue peace through strength, MOFA said in a recent statement.

It added, “Furthermore, it will deepen the close Taiwan-U.S. security partnership to jointly safeguard the rules-based international order and advance peace, stability, and prosperity across the Taiwan Strait and in the Indo-Pacific.”
U.S. White House National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan, Japanese National Security Secretariat Secretary-General Takeo Akiba, and Republic of Korea National Security Office Director Shin Won-sik held a trilateral meeting in Washington on October 25. In a joint readout issued after the meeting, the three national security advisors reaffirmed the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, called for the peaceful resolution of cross-strait issues, and expressed strong opposition to any unilateral attempts to change the status quo by force or coercion in the waters of the Indo-Pacific.

Once upon a China

The ROC was founded in 1912 in China. Taiwan was under Japanese colonial rule at that time due to the 1895 Treaty of Shimonoseki, by which the Qing ceded Taiwan to Japan. The ROC government began exercising jurisdiction over Taiwan in 1945 after Japan surrendered at the end of World War II. The ROC government relocated to Taiwan in 1949 while fighting a civil war with the Chinese Communist Party. Since then, the ROC has continued to exercise effective jurisdiction over the main island of Taiwan and several outlying islands, leaving Taiwan and China each under the rule of a different government. The authorities in Beijing have never exercised sovereignty over Taiwan or other islands administered by the ROC.

In 1895, following defeat in the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-1895), the Qing government signed the Treaty of Shimonoseki, which ceded sovereignty over Taiwan to Japan, which ruled the island until 1945. Around 1911 and 1912, Chinese revolutionaries overthrew the Qing Empire and established the ROC.

In 1943, during World War II, ROC leader Chiang Kai-shek met with U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt and British Prime Minister Winston Churchill in Cairo. After the conclusion of the conference, the Cairo Declaration was released, stating that “…Formosa [Taiwan], and the Pescadores [the Penghu Islands], shall be restored to the Republic of China…” Shortly after, in 1945, the ROC, the UK and the U.S. jointly issued the Potsdam Declaration, calling for Japan’s unconditional surrender and the carrying out the Cairo Declaration.

After World War II, ROC government representatives accept the surrender of Japanese forces in Taiwan. The Chief Executive of Taiwan Province, Chen Yi, sent a memorandum to the Japanese governor-general of Taiwan, stating that “As the Chief Executive of Taiwan Province of the ROC, …I restore all legal territory, people, administration, political, economic, and cultural facilities and assets of Taiwan [including the Penghu Islands].”

In 1947, the ROC Constitution was promulgated on January 1 and is scheduled to take effect on December 25. In March and the following months, ROC troops dispatched from Chisuppressedess a large-scale uprising of Taiwan residents sparked by the February 28 Incident.
In 1949, the ROC government relocated to Taiwan, followed by 1.2 million people from China. October 25 of that year saw the Battle of Kuningtou on Kinmen, in which the ROC armed forces defeated the CCP on the island’s northwestern coast. Martial law was declared in Taiwan and continued to be in force until 1987. By 1952, following the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty with Japan signed by 48 Allied nations on behalf of the United Nations, the Treaty of Peace was signed between the ROC and Japan at Taipei Guest House, formally ending the state of war between the two parties. It is recognised that under Article 2 of the San Francisco Treaty, Japan renounced all rights, title, and claim to Taiwan (Formosa), Penghu (the Pescadores), the Spratly Islands, and the Paracel Islands. All treaties, conventions and agreements concluded before December 9, 1941, between China and Japan “became null and void as a consequence of the war.”
In 1954, the ROC-U.S. Mutual Defense Treaty was signed in Washington. August 23, 1958, saw the start of an artillery duel between the ROC garrison on Kinmen and Chinese forces that lasted more than 40 days.

In 1971, on October 25, the United Nations General Assembly passed UN Resolution 2758, recognising the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the only legitimate representative of China to the global body, forcing the withdrawal of the ROC.

Decades after, in 1996, the ROC held its first-ever direct presidential election, with the KMT’s Lee Teng-hui and running mate Lien Chan garnering 54 per cent of the vote. In 2000, Chen Shui-bian and Annette Hsiu-lien Lu of the DPP were elected president and vice-president, ending the KMT’s more than 50-year rule and marking the first transfer of ROC government executive power in Taiwan between political parties. In 2002, Taiwan became a member of the World Trade Organisation.

In 2010, the ROC inked the Cross-Straits Economic Cooperation Framework Agreement (ECFA) with China to institutionalize economic and trade relations across the Taiwan Strait. In 2011, the centennial of the ROC was celebrated in Taiwan.

In 2014, Mainland Affairs Council Minister Wang Yu-chi held a formal meeting with China’s Taiwan Affairs Office Director Zhang Zhijun in Nanjing in February, marking the first official contact between the heads of the respective government agencies responsible for cross-strait relations. Sunflower Movement protesters occupied the legislature to oppose the passing of the Cross-Strait Service Trade Agreement, preventing its passage. A record 11,130 candidates are elected nationwide for nine categories of local government representatives in what is known as the “nine-in-one” local elections.

In 2015, then-President Ma Ying-jeou (2008-2016) and Xi met in Singapore in November, marking the first top-level meeting between the two sides in 66 years. Taiwan signs the WTO’s Trade Facilitation Agreement and submits its instrument of acceptance to the organization.
In 2024, Lai and Hsiao Bi-khim of the DPP were elected president and vice-president of the ROC (Taiwan). It is the first time a party has held the office for three consecutive terms since Taiwan began direct presidential elections in 1996.