Beijing can always outspend Taipei. It’s time to think small and mean.
Foreign Policy
Date: October 17, 2019
By: James R. Holmes
Give up and become Maoists.
That’s my counsel to Taiwan’s government and armed forces as they fret about the titan rousing
A US-made S70C helicopter is guided by a navy soldier during take off from a frigate at the sea near the Suao navy harbour in Yilan, eastern Taiwan, on April 13, 2018.
Taiwan’s president watched naval drills simulating an attack on the island on April 13, days before Beijing is set to hold live-fire exercises nearby in a show of force. / AFP PHOTO / SAM YEH (Photo credit should read SAM YEH/AFP/Getty Images)
Not only has the leadership never renounced force, it also vows regularly that it will use force to settle the dispute on its terms if Taiwan doesn’t buckle. In fact, Beijing transcribed its threat into law via its Anti-Secession Law back in 2005.
Surrender or conquest: Like a certain mob boss of Hollywood lore, the CCP supremo has made the islanders an offer they can’t refuse.
Now, I am not counseling surrender when I urge Taipei to embrace Maoism. Just the opposite. Taiwanese need not and must not give up their independence or their liberal democratic way of life. Rather, they must adapt Mao Zedong’s war-making methods—techniques meant to empower the weak to prevail over the strong in a trial of arms. Once military commanders accept—and come to feel in their guts—that Taiwan is now the weaker contender in the Taiwan Strait, they will learn to think in Maoist terms. Strategy, operational concepts, and weaponry for turning the tables on the strong will come naturally to them. [FULL STORY]
