from A latest report from the Washington Post has excited the green camp in Taiwan.
The report "focused" on the "Taiwanese volunteers" who entered the Ukraine war. It not only forcibly linked the Ukraine crisis with the Taiwan issue, exaggerating a wave of "China threats", but also helped "anti-China independence" The "Taiwan independence" forces on the island received a wave of "sympathy and support."
But what about the facts?
This so-called "Taiwanese Volunteer Army" is said to have only about 10 people in total. When they were in Taiwan, some of them worked as tour guides and some delivered food. However, when they entered Ukraine, they were immediately praised by major American media such as the China Post and green media on the island, saying that they embodied Taiwan's "helping others and helping ourselves." spirit", gained "valuable battlefield experience", and even won the "voluntary support of soldiers from many countries."
The green camp on the island and the "independence" forces outside can praise such strange pieces of information as "Taiwan's pride", which is strange enough in itself.
01
The Washington Post published a "big article" on the 3rd dedicated to the so-called "Taiwanese Volunteers" on the battlefield in Ukraine.
"Watch out for China's threat, Taiwanese join Ukraine in fighting Russia." Just one title revealed the purpose. It was obviously to link the situation in Ukraine with the Taiwan issue, and to strengthen Taiwan and external forces' "concerns" about mainland China's "military reunification."
Just looking at the title, I would have thought how big this Taiwanese volunteer army is. In fact, even two reporters from the China Post did not figure out how many people had joined the Ukrainian International Volunteer Army. But according to the interviewees, the full budget is only about 10 people.
Even these few people are enough for China Post to "dig in depth". The
report accurately targeted several examples that "demonstrated the significance of Taiwanese going to Ukraine to participate in the war." One of them is Chuang Yu-wei from Taoyuan.
This person is now 51 years old. He used to work as a tour guide in Taiwan and served as a soldier in Taiwan in the 1990s. After entering Ukraine in March, he participated in patrols near the front line of Kharkiv, and also did other tasks such as cooking, transporting supplies, and digging trenches.
The report really gave the man surnamed Zhuang an opportunity to explain his "noble sentiments". He said, "Taiwan cannot just be a giant baby, crying for help from others, but unwilling to help others." "If you want others to help you, you must first lend a helping hand."
He was also moved by himself, saying that Kiev blocked the siege of the Russian army, which immediately "ignited hope for Taiwan", and said that "helping Ukraine is equivalent to buying time for Taiwan."
After demonstrating the Taiwanese spirit of “helping others and helping ourselves”, here comes the second example: Chen Ting-wei, a 27-year-old man who has received training from Taiwan’s “frogmen”. The person
appeared in the report to prove that coming to the front line in Ukraine not only allowed the Taiwanese people to "accumulate valuable battlefield experience" but also "win the support of the people of other countries for Taiwan."
What "valuable battlefield experience"? Chen Tingwei described how he and his fellow soldiers escaped from the trench bombed by the Russian army "less than a minute" in advance and saved their lives. From this, "the most important experience he gained on the battlefield is agility."
Agility... To put it bluntly, just run away as quickly as possible? What other "support from the people of other countries" has
won? Chen said that when he told soldiers from other countries that he was from Taiwan, those soldiers promised to "see him in Taiwan" if China "recovered" Taiwan by force.
This Chen Tingwei turned around and regarded several foreign soldiers as "plenipotentiary representatives" of their country. He told a reporter from the China Post that "people from Poland, the United States, Australia, Brazil and Ukraine" have expressed this meaning to him.
As soon as the Washington Post report came out, some media in the island were so excited that they made more exaggerations and beautifications in the process of reprinting and introducing it.
Some Taiwanese media claimed that "soldiers from many countries were inspired by Taiwanese volunteers who risked their lives to aid Ukraine" and "volunteered and shouted" that if the mainland "militarily reunifies" Taiwan, "Taiwan will see you." That posture is as if if we don't "see you in Taiwan" by then, the "multinational soldiers" will be so regretful that they will wipe their necks and commit suicide.
Actually, the China Post report also mentioned a 26-year-old Hsinchu man named Pan. He pointed out some shortcomings of the Taiwan military. For example, compared with what he saw in the Ukrainian army, the Taiwan military did not pay enough attention to soldiers with special skills. "In Taiwan, our electronic warfare experts are inferior to traditional troops. , the Taiwan military is still encouraging the use of bayonets."
Of course, this person and what he said did not appear in the translation and narration of the Taiwanese media.
In fact, in cooperation with the United States and other Western countries, they use the Russia-Ukraine conflict to exaggerate the tension in the Taiwan Strait, especially hyping up the "military threat" from the mainland. The American and European media often do this. Just these Taiwanese people, or even the same person, who went to Ukraine to serve as "volunteer soldiers" in order to "support democracy and freedom" have appeared in major Western media more than once.
Prior to the China Post report, on June 20, BBC Chinese website had conducted an exclusive interview with a Taiwanese " volunteer " named Lee Cheng-ling. "What a coincidence", this Li Chengling also appeared in the China Post's report on the 3rd.
02
Hyping up the connection between Taiwan and Ukraine is not only something that the American media is keen on, but is also something that senior officials in Washington will take the initiative to mention from time to time.
Chairman of the US Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley In an interview with the British Broadcasting Corporation, he first gave an ambiguous answer as to whether China would attack Taiwan with force: "Maybe, should, maybe, these are the ways to describe this. Keywords of things”.
"may", "should", "maybe"... Next, and express three levels of meaning for these keywords.
One is "In terms of capabilities, I think China is clearly developing a capability."
Two is "Whether they will attack or not, that's a political choice, it's a policy choice. That will be based on how China assesses the cost-risk-benefit at that time. .”
The third is that “there are currently no imminent signs or warnings” and the United States is “monitoring the situation very, very closely.”
The top intelligence official in the United States has recently publicly expressed a similar judgment.
Haines, the U.S. Director of National Intelligence said on June 29 that although Chinese leaders regard unification of Taiwan as a goal, she believes that China "still prefers a peaceful approach rather than the use of force." "There is "no sign" that mainland China now intends to attack Taiwan with force.
Take a look, don’t they understand it quite well?
This is also the attitude of mainland China: the Chinese People's Liberation Army has the determination and ability to thwart any external interference and "Taiwan independence" separatist plot, and resolutely defend national sovereignty and security and regional peace and stability. At the same time, how to resolve the Taiwan issue is China's internal affair and no other country has the right to interfere.
If you go further, you will find that Milley also publicly speculated on the People's Liberation Army's "capability to attack Taiwan."
On May 3, Milley and Defense Secretary Austin attended a Senate Appropriations Committee panel hearing to accept questions from members on the $773 billion Pentagon budget proposed by the Biden administration for the 2023 fiscal year.
Milley claimed at the time: "The possibility of a serious international conflict among major powers is increasing."
As for what a "serious international conflict" is, Milley said, "Taiwan has always been China's military target, and the Chinese authorities require the People's Liberation Army to improve its capabilities." Be prepared to have the capability to capture Taiwan. It's a very difficult task, and it remains to be seen whether China can actually achieve that military plan, but whether they can have that capability, that's a goal, 2027. We must remember this. "
In just two months, Milley went from secretly setting a timetable for "military reunification" to "attacking Taiwan by force" as "possible" and "should". Maybe" thing...
In fact, the US argument that mainland China will have the ability to attack Taiwan in 2027 is not new.
The "China Military Power Report" released by the U.S. Department of Defense in November 2021 stated that "China's goal of rapidly promoting military modernization is to have the ability to confront the U.S. military in the Indo-Pacific region by 2027 and force Taiwan's leadership to comply with Beijing's conditions. negotiation".
The United States has previously said that "the People's Liberation Army will have the ability to fully attack Taiwan by 2025."
03
From the media to the political circles and the military, all walks of life in the United States frequently make specious claims on Taiwan-related issues, or try to replicate the "Ukrainian experience" in Taiwan. Some scholars have revealed the mystery.
First, it seeks legitimacy for the huge defense budget by exaggerating the sense of urgency of the so-called "China threat."
It is easy to understand that the occasion when Milley gave the specific time of "2027" was at the Pentagon budget hearing; and when interviewed by reporters, he used a set of vague rhetoric.
Second, the U.S.’s efforts to contain China have become dependent on the path of “using Taiwan to contain China,” which can not only deter mainland China, but also pave the way for continued arms sales to Taiwan.
In the midst of this, Washington's intention to use Taiwan as a pawn is so obvious, but the Democratic Progressive Party authorities are eager to use the Russia-Ukraine conflict to "internationalize the Taiwan issue."
"Foreign Minister" Joseph Wu has been very busy in the past six months. He has been busy accepting interviews with international media, speaking out in the international community, exaggerating the impact of the Russia-Ukraine conflict on Taiwan, and the so-called "China threat."
Joseph Wu believes that Taiwan is "separated from mainland China by an ocean" and "playing a key role in the global high-tech supply chain" are Taiwan's two major advantages. He attempts to win more support from the international community with the so-called "global democratic camp must unite" . The
routine has the same logic as the Washington Post mentioned before that a few Taiwanese "helped" Ukraine and that Taiwan will receive "aid" from democratic countries in the future. It is too pretentious.
The Ukrainian issue is ultimately a diplomatic and security issue in the context of great power competition. The Taiwan issue and are out-and-out China's internal affairs issues, and the two certainly cannot be confused.
The attempts of the "Taiwan independence" forces to take advantage of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine to internationalize the Taiwan issue and "correct its name" as a "country" are impossible to achieve.
Source: Buyi Dao/Daojianxiao Daodaojie
Column editor: Gu Wanquan Text editor: Cheng Pei Source of title picture: Xinhua News Agency Picture editor: Da Xi
Source: Author: Bu Yidao
