David Cheng-Wei Wu
Tarik Solmaz’s recent article in The Interpreter, Three factors hardening China’s stance on Taiwan, provided an incisive snapshot of three of the factors aggravating Beijing’s aggressive grey zone actions against Taiwan in recent times.
But I’d take issue with one concerning aspect of Solmaz’s overall analysis. His thesis appeared to suggest that Taiwan, through its pursuit of ordinary diplomatic business, was in some way causing the hardening of China’s position. That may not have been his intention, but by picking three geopolitical factors in isolation, without delineating the larger frame of reference, and in the context of naming aggravating factors as causative, it creates the strong suggestion that Taiwan is somehow responsible for the constant harassment and grey zone operations being conducted against it. In other words, it leaves the impression of Taiwan is a troublemaker.
I certainly agree that Taiwan’s steadfast maintenance of its liberal democracy under China’s military and economic coercion, its participation in international organisations, and its ordinary diplomatic pursuit are all aggravating factors in China’s recent shift into intransigence and absolutism. Where I disagree, however, is in the suggestion that these factors are causative.
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