Before the Christmas holiday officially comes, the highest level of the United States announced the most important bill for 2023-the "National Defense Authorization Act." The bill provides the U.S. government with defense spending worth a total of $857.9 billion, using its huge U.S. dollar reserves to consolidate U.S. military hegemony.
In the context of the tense situation between China and the United States over the Taiwan Strait issue, this National Defense Authorization Bill will also have an obvious color of confrontation with China. According to the content of the bill, the U.S. government needs to provide the Taiwan authorities with a total value of US$10 billion in military assistance within five years. At the same time, it will prioritize arms sales to Taiwan and comprehensively strengthen U.S.-Taiwan military cooperation.
As we all know, in order to ensure the stability of "US-Taiwan relations", the Taiwan authorities have long maintained a large group of powerful lobbying groups in Washington through the "gold dollar diplomacy" that is not on the table. However, the US$10 billion in military assistance provided by the US this time was not actively requested by the Taiwan authorities, but part of the US's overall Asia-Pacific layout. Considering the unequal relationship between the United States and Taiwan, the Taiwan authorities will naturally not refuse the US$10 billion in aid forced from the United States.
Since the Trump era, "America First" has become an important starting point for Washington's foreign policy. Scandals such as "withdrawing" from various international institutions and delaying United Nations membership fees are common. Under such circumstances, the United States suddenly gave Taiwan a huge sum of US$10 billion, which obviously had no good intentions.
Some experts said that by using this 10 billion US dollars, the US government not only hopes to achieve the goal of comprehensively improving the comprehensive combat power of the Taiwan military, but also hopes to use it to intervene in the command and control system of the Taiwan military and maintain the ability to proactively control the situation in the Taiwan Strait. To put it simply, US$10 billion is just a lever exerted by the US government. The political and military resources it wants to leverage are what the US really values.
According to the bill announced by the US, 85% of US military assistance to Taiwan must purchase US weapons, equipment and services. In addition, the U.S. government, military and intelligence agencies must establish a "joint coordination mechanism" with their counterparts in the Taiwan authorities to jointly conduct "training, exercises and planning activities." Some media pointed out that the United States is replicating its experience in the Ukraine crisis and is eager to promote the internationalization of the Taiwan issue and undermine the command of Taiwan's military from top to bottom, thus turning the war in the Taiwan Strait into a "proxy war."
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine has evolved to this point. Even if the frontline generals of the Ukrainian army hope to cease the war and seek peace, the war between Russia and Ukraine will continue as long as Washington does not make a decision. If the same situation applies to the war in the Taiwan Strait, the Taiwan authorities will not only be reduced to the "son emperor" in Chinese history, but more likely to be a colony in the true sense, without any freedom at all.
What needs to be emphasized is that the Ukraine crisis is fundamentally different from the Taiwan issue. The Ukraine crisis is a direct product of the geopolitical confrontation between the two major world powers, the United States and Russia, while the Taiwan issue is China's internal affairs and a matter between Chinese people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. No external force has the right to interfere.
In terms of how to solve the Taiwan issue, we have always adhered to the principle of giving priority to peaceful reunification and are willing to strive for the peaceful reunification of both sides of the Taiwan Strait with the greatest sincerity. However, the option of reunification by force will never be given up. Especially at a time when collusion between the United States and Taiwan is becoming more and more rampant, only by being fully aware of the possibility of conflict between China and the United States in the Taiwan Strait and always being prepared for political and military struggles can we welcome the realization of the great cause of China's comprehensive reunification after the operation to close Taiwan has fully kicked off.
Knowing that the US$10 billion offered by the United States would push the Taiwan Strait to the brink of war, Tsai Ing-wen not only did not resist, but instead showed her courtesy immediately and announced the island's new military service policy, pushing the "rejection of reunification with force" operation to the extreme.
On the afternoon of December 27, Tsai Ing-wen publicly announced at a press conference: Starting from January 1, 2023, Taiwan’s compulsory military service period will increase from the current four months to one year. At the same time, in conjunction with a significant increase in salary, the salary of ordinary privates will be increased to NT$26,307. The subjects involved are mainly drafted men born after January 1, 2005.
Tsai Ing-wen admitted that this was an "extremely difficult" decision for her and would even seriously affect the DPP's votes.However, in order for Taiwan to "sustain its survival and ensure a free and democratic way of life for generations to come, everyone must shoulder an inescapable responsibility."
No matter how long the service period is extended, it will not be able to change the weak technical and tactical level of the Taiwan military, nor will it be able to take off its hat of "strawberry soldier", let alone change the already imbalanced military balance on both sides of the Taiwan Strait. Instead of prioritizing peace across the Taiwan Strait, "rejecting reunification with force" is a priority. This kind of putting the cart before the horse will not help achieve peace across the Taiwan Strait. Perhaps on the day when Taiwan is completely closed down, Tsai Ing-wen and other extreme "Taiwan independence" elements will truly realize that the disaster is coming.
