As the United States increasingly looks to China for help over tackling problem issues such as Iran, Burma and Darfur, concern is growing in Taiwan that the island’s sole international protector may be dropping its guard. The de facto independence of Taiwan, viewed by Beijing as a renegade province, depends in the last resort on American defensive guarantees and arms supplies. Yet despite expanded collaboration with Washington in other areas, China remains engaged in a rapid military build-up along the Taiwan Strait.
Taiwan’s president, Chen Shui-ban, says China now has 988 missiles aimed at Taiwan and is continually adding to its arsenal. Chen, who opposes unification and the communists’ ”one China” mantra, described Beijing as a threat to regional peace and said it was preparing to take the island by force by 2015. Last month China said it had deployed a high-performance radar system to complement its surface-to-air missiles and jet fighter interceptors.
Robert Gates, the US defence secretary, questioned the build-up during a visit to Beijing last week. The two sides agreed to create a military hotline to help defuse crises. But Gates’s stated priority was securing China’s backing for steps to curb Iran’s nuclear activities. On Taiwan, he merely reiterated Washington’s formulaic support for maintaining the status quo.
While the US frequently encourages Taiwan to buy new and secondhand American weaponry to be better able to defend itself, it has criticised Taipei’s indigenous development of the long-range Hsiung Feng cruise missile, which it, and China, view as an offensive weapon. Chen was recently obliged to pledge to ”consult” Washington before firing the missiles. US fears about fuelling cross-strait tensions, stoked by Beijing, also appear to have delayed Taiwan’s purchase of 66 state of the art US-made F16 fighters.
Taiwanese officials say China has become adept at manipulating the Bush administration.
Political factors are also straining Taipei-Washington ties as Taiwan moves towards next year’s contentious legislative and presidential elections, in January and March respectively. Chen, who is standing down after two terms, is determined to hold a national referendum before he goes on changing the country’s official name — Republic of China — to the more familiar Taiwan. The plan is then to apply for UN membership.
To shared consternation in Washington and Beijing, relations between Taiwan and the mainland are emerging as the key election issue. While the ruling Democratic Progressive Party’s presidential candidate, Frank Hsieh, generally favours measures to strengthen Taiwan’s separate identity, Ma Ying-jeou, his opposition Kuomintang rival, says he would seek a peace treaty with China and deepen investment, trade and transport links.
Taiwan and China have even fallen out over next year’s Beijing Olympics. Following an enormous row, the Olympic torch relay will not now pass through Taiwan. Instead the DPP launched its own torch processions, highlighting both the UN bid and the bitter gulf between the two sides. — Â