By Dexter Liu
Editor’s note: Mr. Liu is a naturalized American citizen of Chinese descent, whose parents escaped China in 1949 as the Communists took control. His father was prominent in the Nationalist Chinese Navy, and was actively involved in the Nationalists’ retreat to Taiwan where the free and democratic government remains today. Mr. Liu is a regular contributor to this newspaper and now lives in Oriental.
While Americans relaxed after enjoying leftovers from Thanksgiving to cheer for their favorite football teams, our friends on the island state of Taiwan were forced to scramble jet fighters to fend off warplanes from Communist China.
Ever since the Biden administration entered the White House the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has ramped up its aggression against its neighbors in Asia and the Indo Pacific Region. Biden’s Afghanistan debacle signaled to the world a weak American leadership emboldening the CCP to increase their belligerence towards Japan, South Korea, and in Southeast Asia. They violated their treaty with Great Britain toughening restrictions on freedoms in Hong Kong and now openly threaten Taiwan, the island state they claim is a rogue province belonging to them.
For 72 years the United States has been a strong ally and supporter of Taiwan’s right to be free and independent of communist rule. Despite the formal diplomatic recognition of Communist China in 1979, we defended our friend who shares our American values and we led the world in the defense of human rights, democratic self-governance, and free market systems. But under recent Democratic Administrations, commitments to those principles have waned as America has gotten closer with the CCP diplomatically and economically.
Perhaps the Wuhan Virus Pandemic is a wake-up call that our dependency on the Communist Chinese has put America in a most precarious position unable to supply our own nation with basic necessities without relying heavily on a critical Chinese supply chain, one which a potentially hostile regime has the ability to hold hostage and extort demands to our detriment.
Why is it important for the United States to support Taiwan as a free and independently governed state? To answer that question, one must first consider the historical context of how modern China became a totalitarian Communist state and why Taiwan remains a free democratic republic independently governed by the island’s own duly elected government.
Chinese Communism was actually the product of a foreign invasion of China and not of a home-grown grassroots movement. In fact, it was the direct result of covert activities orchestrated by Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks that began as early as 1918. Right on the heels of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution, Lenin founded the Communist International or the Comintern, a spy agency with a mandate of exporting Communist Revolution worldwide. It was through this agency an army of spies were sent to China to infiltrate, recruit, propagandize and create a Communist insurgency that would ultimately take over China but be subservient to Soviet Russia. Although the Soviet Union eventually collapsed, the CCP remains in power well past their founders’ demise and has continued to occupy China for more than seven decades.
Part Two – Communism/Marxism remains antithetical to Chinese traditions and values.
Despite the CCP occupation, Communism/Marxism remain antithetical to Chinese traditions and values. The Communists, however, remain steadfast in their attempt to erase all remaining vestiges of China’s centuries of traditions, culture, religion, and values even today. What continues to be done to the Chinese people remains among the greatest crimes against humanity ever perpetrated on an entire nation in world history. The CCP’s numerous crimes to date have gone unpunished. No justice has been forthcoming as the CCP regime remains in control now entering its third dynasty, one which appears to be reverting to the ways of Mao Zedong, the supreme leader of the first dynasty of hardliners. It is clear, the CCP today under Xi Jinping shares Mao’s ambitions of global domination. The second dynasty, the moderate era under Deng Xiaoping et al, was when China opened to the West for its desperately needed economic reform. However, decades of predictions by western pundits’ of a moderating CCP that would eventually embrace the ways of the rest of the free world with ever increasing western engagement never materialized.
The significance of the current CCP regime reverting to the ways of Mao Zedong cannot be overstated. Under Mao Zedong’s reign of terror, it has been estimated between 60 to 80 million citizens were massacred. Let that sink in for a moment: that’s as many human beings murdered as voted for Donald Trump in the 2020 election! And although the media will not dwell on news that do not favor the CCP, unspeakable human rights abuses continue today under the current regime unabated.
In harsh contrast to the Communist Revolution of 1949, the original Chinese revolution of 1911 was born of home-grown grassroots citizen coalitions rebelling against imperial tyranny and defeating China’s last feudal dynasty, the Manchus (Qing Dynasty). The people founded the Republic of China a democratic republic and established a Nationalist government based on three principles: “nationalism, democracy and the betterment of peoples’ livelihood.” This has been described as mirroring America’s own “government of the people, by the people and for the people.” For three decades the Nationalists toiled to unite, rebuild, and modernize China. They did this amid an invasion by Imperial Japan, through WWII and fighting a civil war with Communists backed by the Soviet Union.
Eventually the Nationalists were forced to take refuge in Taiwan where they continued their original mission. The result today is a free island state that is an economic miracle, a model of a free and prosperous society and an inspiration for Asia and the Pacific region. Naturally, free Taiwan has been a strategic ally to the United States for seventy two years because of shared values, shared national security interests and shared friendships. But now, Taiwan is being threatened by the CCP as America’s commitment appears to wane while the CCP’s ambitions are reverting to global domination, a tenet of the original Bolshevik and Leninist vision of worldwide Communist domination. That leads us to the question, “why must the United States support Taiwan and defend its right to exist as a democratic republic free from the Chinese Communist tyranny?”
Since taking office, the Biden administration has shown great reluctance to push back against the CCP even in the wake of the Wuhan Virus Pandemic that devastated so many Americans and those around the world. Despite recent rhetoric from the White House assuring Taiwan the United States will remain supportive, there has been a lack of any substantive actions or even strong condemnations against the CCP’s most recent post-Thanksgiving aggression against Taiwan. It is clear America must wean off its dependence on Communist China. Particularly considering China’s apparent backwards march towards a hardline posture moving even further away from America’s values, our commitment to a stable free world in which nations defend human rights, practice fair global trade, honor intellectual property rights, and respect one another’s sovereignty. But is the current administration up to the task? If the disaster in Afghanistan and the lack of action to secure our own southern borders are any indication, it is far from reassuring.
Supporting Taiwan is a must, however, because it remains a critical strategic ally to the United States in the Asian Pacific Region. Should the CCP invade Taiwan, it’s not only an existential threat to the island state, it would also be a serious threat to America’s own vital interests in the region including our national security.
The benefits of supporting Taiwan are many. Defending a model example of a free democratic society such as Taiwan is what freedom loving Americans will overwhelmingly support because it is the right thing to do. Plus, by doing so, we defend America’s own vital security interests. Furthermore, ramping up our trade relations with Taiwan will help us wean off our dangerous dependence on China too. America will do well in developing a more robust bi-lateral relationship with Taiwan. They are one of the world’s major producers of computer chips, healthcare and agricultural technologies including numerous other categories.
America has always been the leader of the free world and our friends have always counted on us to have their backs. The America we love has always stood by her principles, rallied its allies, built united coalitions to defend the peace and stability around the world. We must not abdicate that responsibility, because without a strong America there will not be a free and peaceful world. We should not only support free Taiwan, the rest of the free world depends on American leadership too. Therefore, as concerned Americans call your representatives. Take our leaders to task and tell them we will not accept a weakened America, one that would stand by and watch our friends lose their right to live free from coercion and tyranny by oppressors like the CCP. Let’s show the world America is strong and we still stand for freedom and justice! LET’S GO AMERICA!
. Pres. Carter rescinded it in 1979 when he recognized PRC officially), he was also Taiwan’s Information Director in the late 50 to early 60s, Ambassador to Sierra Leone West Africa 62 – 70 , Minister of African Affairs Taiwan early 70s, Taiwan’s Consul General to Hawaii 74-78, Ambassador by special appointment to The Hague, Netherlands from Taiwan through the 80s. As for myself, because of my parents, I enjoyed all the freedoms and opportunities being educated in the US, making a life in America. After a successful 30 year career in product development in various consumer products, toys/games and the entertainment industries, I have lived the “American Dream.” I’ve owned and operated several businesses while living in Rhode Island for nearly 4 decades (with my wife for 30 years). We moved to North Carolina over 5 years ago. I am now retired and living in the village of Oriental, with my wife Nancy and our son, Robert.
Dexter is a frequent contributor to the County Compass.
