Source: wechat official account: Bu Yidao has been authorized to reprint
Pen / Sword smile & Dao Dao sister
A new report from the Washington Post made the green camp in Taiwan quite excited.
The report deliberately “focused” on the “Taiwan volunteer army” entering the war in Ukraine, which not only forcibly linked the Ukrainian crisis with the Taiwan issue, exaggerated a wave of “China threat”, but also helped the “Taiwan independence” forces on the island “resist China and seek independence” win a wave of “sympathy and support”.
But what about the truth?
The so-called “Taiwan volunteer army” is said to have a total of about 10 people. When they were in Taiwan, some of them were tour guides and some of them delivered takeout food. But when they entered Ukraine, they were immediately praised by major American media such as China Post and a group of green media on the island, saying that they embodied Taiwan’s “spirit of helping others and ourselves”, gained “valuable battlefield experience”, and even won “the voluntary support of multinational soldiers”.
It is wonderful that the green camp and the external “Pro independence” forces on the island can hold such wonderful pieces of material as “Taiwan’s pride”.
one
The Washington Post made a “big article” for the so-called “Taiwan volunteer army” on the Ukrainian battlefield on the 3rd.
“Be alert to China’s threat, and the Taiwanese will join Ukraine in fighting against Russia”. Just one title exposed the purpose, which was obviously to link the situation in Ukraine with the Taiwan issue, and by the way, to strengthen the “concern” of Taiwan and external forces about the “military reunification” of the mainland.
Just looking at the title, I thought how large the Taiwan volunteer army was. In fact, even the two reporters of China Post did not know how many people joined the Ukrainian International Volunteer Army. However, according to the interviewees, there are only about 10 people on a full scale.
Even these few people are enough for China Post to “dig deep”.
The report pinpointed several typical examples used to “show the great significance of Taiwan people’s participation in the war in Ukraine”. One of them is Zhuang Yu Wei from Taoyuan.
This man is now 51 years old. He used to be a tour guide in Taiwan and served as a soldier in Taiwan in the 1990s. After entering Ukraine in March, he took part in patrols near the Kharkov front, and also did some other things, such as helping the kitchen, carrying supplies and digging trenches.
The report really gave the man surnamed Zhuang a chance to explain his “noble sentiments” by himself. He said, “Taiwan can’t just be a giant baby, crying for help, but he doesn’t want 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 Russian siege, which immediately “raised hope for Taiwan”, and that “helping Ukraine is equivalent to buying time for Taiwan”.
After showing the Taiwanese people’s “spirit of helping others and ourselves”, the second example came: Chen Ting Wei, a 27 year old man who had received training from Taiwan’s “frog man”.
This person appeared in the report to prove that coming to the Ukrainian front not only allowed the Taiwanese “to accumulate valuable battlefield experience”, but also “won the support of the people of other countries for Taiwan”.
What is “valuable battlefield experience”? Chen Tingwei described how he and his team of soldiers escaped from the trench bombed by the Russian army “less than a minute” in advance and saved their lives. From this, he “learned the most important experience in the battlefield is agility”.
Agility… To put it bluntly, is to run away as soon as possible?
In addition, what “support of the people of other countries” have you won? Chen said that when he told soldiers from other countries that he came from Taiwan, the soldiers promised to “see Taiwan” if China “recovers” Taiwan by force.
Chen Tingwei turned around and regarded several foreign soldiers as the “plenipotentiary” of his country. He described to the China Post reporter that “people from Poland, the United States, Australia, Brazil and Ukraine” all expressed this meaning to him.
As soon as this report of the Washington Post came out, some media on the island were like treasures, and they exaggerated and beautified it more in the process of reprint and introduction.
Some Taiwanese media said that “many soldiers were inspired by Taiwan volunteers to help Ukraine regardless of their own lives”, “volunteered and shouted” if the mainland “Wu Tong” Taiwan will “see Taiwan”. That posture is like that if we don’t “see you in Taiwan” at that time, “multinational soldiers” will have to wipe their necks with regret and commit suicide.
In fact, a 26 year old man surnamed pan from Hsinchu was also mentioned in the China Post report. He picked on some shortcomings of the Taiwan army. For example, compared with what he saw and heard in the Ukrainian army, the Taiwan army did not pay enough attention to soldiers with special skills. “In Taiwan, our electronic warfare experts are inferior to traditional troops, and the Taiwan army is still encouraging the use of bayonets.”.
Of course, what this person said to him did not appear in the translation of Taiwan media.
In fact, cooperating with the United States and other western countries to exaggerate the tension in the Taiwan Strait through the conflict between Russia and Ukraine, especially hyping the “military threat” of the mainland, American and European media have done much. Just for the sake of “supporting democracy and freedom”, these Taiwanese who went to Ukraine to become a “volunteer army”, and even the same person, appeared on the western major media more than once.
Prior to the China Post report, on June 20, the BBC Chinese network had conducted an exclusive interview with a Taiwanese “volunteer” named Lee Cheng Ling. “Coincidentally”, this lichengling, also appeared in the report of China Post on the 3rd.
two
It is not only the passion of the American media to hype the connection between Taiwan and Ukraine, but also the initiative of senior officials in Washington from time to time.
In an interview with the BBC, mark Miley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of staff of the United States, first gave an ambiguous answer on whether China would attack Taiwan by force: “maybe, should, maybe, these are the keywords to describe this matter”.
“Maybe”, “should”, “maybe”… Next, Millie expressed three meanings on these keywords.
First, “in terms of capability, I think China is obviously developing a capability.”
The second is “whether they will attack, which is a political choice and a policy choice. It will be based on how China evaluates the costs, risks and benefits at that time.”
Third, “there is no imminent sign or warning at present”, and the United States is “observing the situation very, very closely”.
The top US intelligence official has also publicly expressed similar judgments recently.
Haines, the director of national intelligence of the United States, said on June 29 that although Chinese leaders regard the reunification of Taiwan as a goal, she believes that Chinese Mainland “still prefers peaceful means to the use of force”, and “there is no sign” that Chinese Mainland now intends to attack Taiwan by force.
Look, don’t they quite understand?
This is exactly the attitude of Chinese Mainland: the Chinese people’s Liberation Army is determined and able to thwart any interference by external forces and separatist attempts for “Taiwan independence”, and resolutely safeguard national sovereignty and security and regional peace and stability. At the same time, how to solve the Taiwan issue is China’s internal affairs, and no other country has the right to interfere.
If you go further, you will find that it was also Milly who publicly speculated about the “Taiwan attack capability” of the PLA.
On May 3, Milly and Secretary of defense Austin attended a panel hearing of the Senate Appropriations Committee and were questioned by lawmakers on the $773billion Pentagon budget proposed by the Biden Administration for fiscal year 2023.
Milly said at that time: “the possibility of serious international conflicts between major powers is increasing.”
As for what is “serious international conflict”, Milly said, “Taiwan has always been China’s military target, and the Chinese authorities require the PLA to be prepared in terms of capability and have the ability to occupy Taiwan. This is a very arduous task, and it remains to be seen whether China can really achieve this military plan. But whether they can have that capability or not, it is a goal, and we must keep this in mind in 2027.”
It took only two months for Milly to set the so-called “Wu Tong” schedule for us. It was “possible”, “should” and “maybe” to “attack Taiwan by force”
In fact, the US argument that Chinese Mainland “will have the ability to attack Taiwan in 2027” is not new.
The “China’s military strength report” released by the U.S. Department of defense in November 2021 said that “China’s goal of rapidly promoting military modernization is to have the ability to confront the U.S. military in the Indian Pacific region in 2027, and force Taiwan’s leadership to negotiate on Beijing terms”.
The United States has also previously said that “the people’s Liberation Army will be able to attack Taiwan in an all-round way in 2025”.
three
From the media to politics and the military, all walks of life in the United States have frequently made specious statements on Taiwan related issues, or tried to replicate the “Ukrainian experience” in Taiwan. Some scholars have broken the mystery.
First, seek legitimacy for the huge national defense budget by exaggerating the sense of urgency of the so-called “China threat”.
It is easy to understand that Milly gave the specific time of “2027” at the Pentagon budget hearing; In the face of reporters, he said a set of vague words.
Second, the United States has formed a path dependence of “using Taiwan to control China”, which can not only deter the Chinese Mainland, but also pave the way for the continued arms sales to Taiwan.
In the middle, Washington’s intention of using Taiwan as a pawn is so obvious, but the DPP authorities can’t wait to use the conflict between Russia and Ukraine to realize the “internationalization of the Taiwan issue”.
Wu zhaoxie, the “foreign minister”, has been very busy in the past six months. He has been busy accepting international media interviews, making a voice in the international community, exaggerating the impact of the Russian Ukrainian conflict on Taiwan and the so-called “China threat”.
Wu zhaoxie believes that “there is a sea separation” from Chinese Mainland and “playing a key role in the global high-tech supply chain” are Taiwan’s two major advantages, attempting to win more support from the international community with the so-called “global democratic camp must unite”.
This routine is the same logic as the previous Washington Post mentioned that a few Taiwanese “helped” Ukraine, and Taiwan will receive “assistance” from democratic countries in the future. It is too self indulgent.
The Ukrainian issue, in the final analysis, is a diplomatic and security issue in the context of the great power game. The Taiwan issue is an internal affair of China to the letter. Of course, the two cannot be confused.
It is impossible for the “Taiwan independence” forces to take advantage of the conflict between Russia and Ukraine to internationalize the Taiwan issue and “correct their names” as “countries”.