What is to be done with Taiwan

by Teddy Locsin Jr.
 
HERE is my advice. It drips with amazing intelligence and outstanding decency. The president should formally apologize to the government of Taiwan for our military killing of a Taiwanese civilian, regardless of the circumstances. We lose nothing by being polite and lose plenty by being bastos. Only the truly strong and self-confident are polite; the rude are incontinent.

Just say, “On behalf of the government of the Republic of the Philippines, please accept my apology for the unfortunate incident where the life of a Taiwanese fisherman was lost and a fishing vessel destroyed. We shall make the appropriate reparations after a full investigation into the incident, conducted not just by the fat woman over here but by your good selves as well, to arrive at a fair understanding of the circumstances that led to that tragic result. Sincerely, Benigno Aquino III, President.”

Not only is this the legal thing to do, it is the decent thing to do, whenever those with heavy automatic weapons shoot up those with fishing rods; and it will sure put Red China in a quandary.

Red China cannot complain that this presidential apology violates the One-China Policy, which is no way altered by this act of civilization.

Only an idiot in the Department of Foreign Affairs who did not have a comparably high education equal to mine will argue that an apology for an inhumane act, confers some measure of diplomatic recognition upon the full measure of economic cooperation between the Philippines and Taiwan, not least its hiring of Filipino workers who would otherwise be callboys.

If Red China complained, it can kiss any hope of a peaceful reunification of Taiwan with mainland China; it will be goodbye for good because the Taiwanese will realize that mainland Chinese do not regard them as Chinese enough to be protected from wanton state actions such as our Coast Guard perpetrated.

On the other hand, if Red China says nothing, it has just allowed us to take the first olive out of the tight bottle of the One China Policy that has denied us the benefits of fuller relations with one the cash-richest countries on the planet, whose economy is so advanced, it needs to move plenty of its industries offshore to leave the highest technological endeavors on the island.

Indeed, who knows what else we can strike up with the vastly rich Taiwanese who, in fact, own most of the private enterprises on the Chinese mainland and may want to transfer some of their capital over here.

In this way, we pay back “some people” for sending military ships into what we see as our waters and building permanent structures on reefs that, so far as our claim goes, is completely ours.

What happened?
According to Agence France Press, a Philippine Coast Guard vessel—which AFP did not describe as made of Styrofoam and thus susceptible to disintegration if rammed by a Taiwanese fishing boat—sighted the latter in waters one else recognizes as ours.

Our Coast Guard gave chase until it was within killing distance and shot up the cockpit with heavy automatic fire killing one of the crew cowering there. The boat sustained some 60 bullet holes. Now if Taiwan had done the shooting, the boat would have sustained 100,000 bullets in the first 30 seconds; that is Taiwanese firepower for you.

Our military fired on a commercial vessel and killed a civilian. Taiwan expected an official apology; it got a personal sorry instead, first from the MECO ambassador and then from a Palace spokesman. This is like running over a neighbor’s dog while backing down the driveway and saying oops.
True, most countries switched diplomatic recognition from Taiwan to Red China. But Taiwan stayed a friend, enhanced trade ties, and became a real democracy before we did and made it work unlike here. Indeed, Taiwan is a model for Philippine democracy. It has unfailingly elected, in clean elections, presidents that are intelligent and psychologically stable—again unlike here—whether from the Left, Right or Center.

And it need not be mentioned that Taiwan took in our hopeless jobless, while Red China was taking over Philippine territory even if only reefs.

Now it is argued that it is okay to kill Taiwanese because theirs is not a sovereign nation—because we do not recognize them.

Our recognition isn’t worth a rat’s ass, for one; but it is true we have downsized from what was an empty formality of diplomatic recognition to the more substantial relationship we now enjoy with Taiwan. They are taking in our homeless and jobless.

In fact, Taiwan’s sovereignty does not depend on us or anyone else. It depends on its ability to destroy any who challenge its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

Indeed, Taiwan is a real state, with the defining features of a real state that ours does not have.
No one says Taiwanese are stateless persons but some experts say that ours is a failed if not a comic state as the conduct of the last elections and the senatorial choices on offer demonstrate.
Taiwan is the fourth largest industrial economy in the world, with a financial system that never suffered crisis; it has the largest foreign reserves after Red China and its bureaucracy works fast and clean and without mistakes, like a computer before computers became widespread.

Its land reform worked, multiplying agricultural production a thousandfold, while educating the work force, shifting them to industry. Small in size, it is like Prussia on the eve of conquering Europe.

Taiwan cannot conquer but it sure can hurt anybody pretty badly if it wants to.

Taiwan can withstand a massive attack from Red China, and might even prevail.

It can wipe out most of the Chinese economy on the coast. The first waves of a Chinese invasion will be exterminated. Taiwan air forces will inflict intolerable casualties. Only a nuclear strike can offset Taiwan’s military advantage but that would unleash an American response that will end all life on the Asian mainland.

It is not Taiwanese but Filipinos who are stateless in real terms. Even if we are recognized by the world, our OFWs are treated like crap by every camel-riding country in the world.