FPI / May 3, 2023
Official pronouncements from the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) give no real explanation of what the implications will be for the people of Taiwan should China invade and take over the island nation.
"Historic precedent, however, suggests the possibility of a murderous CCP reign of terror, while terrorizing Taiwan’s new diaspora and forcing Taiwan’s youth into decades of wars for global hegemony," Richard Fisher noted in a May 1 column for the Taipei Times.
In three so-called "White Papers" — in 1993, 2000, and 2022 — the communist regime in Beijing "implored Taiwanese to simply surrender their hard-earned freedoms for promises of 'autonomy.' Such CCP promises proved to be lies in the case of its 2019 suppression of Hong Kong’s nascent democratic culture, where elections now are only for CCP approved 'patriots,' " noted Fisher, a Geostrategy-Direct.com contributing editor.
The August 2022 White Paper states: “Taiwan’s social system and its way of life will be fully respected… Provided that China’s sovereignty, security and development interests are guaranteed.”
For the CCP, Fisher noted, " 'guaranteed' means that 'Taiwan’s social system and its way of life' be completely subordinated to the CCP, meaning it will be destroyed."
The 2022 White Paper also suggests that the people of Taiwan will be subjected to “reeducation.” The 2022 paper also does not repeat the assurance made in the 1993 and 2000 editions that Taiwan will not be occupied militarily following "unification."
"Mind you, this 'positive scenario' requires that Taiwan surrender to the dictates of Peaceful Unification," Fisher wrote.
What is laid out in the White Papers would have been rejected in any national referendum in Taiwan. With that in mind, "the CCP has focused on preparing for the 'use of force' to impose unification as its only viable option, and such a war would cancel all previous promises of any level of autonomy for Taiwan," Fisher noted.
Invading Taiwan "will be configured to force a rapid surrender," Fisher added, but it may take "perhaps weeks to kill off any organized Taiwan resistance." After that, "the CCP can be expected to embark upon programs of pacification and exploitation."
During an April 9 Chinese state television interview, People’s Liberation Army Academy of Military Sciences “researcher” Senior Col. Zhao Xiaozhuo compared “Taiwan independence forces” to a “tumor … and we have to operate and remove this tumor.”
"Ignoring that Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and Kuomintang (KMT) do not support de jure independence out of fear of justifying a CCP invasion or alienating support from Washington, Sr. Col. Zhao is repeating the longstanding CCP broad brush that dehumanizes Taiwanese who cherish their 'de facto' independence and oppose surrendering to the CCP, as 'independence forces,' " Fisher wrote.
"So the 8.1 million Taiwanese who voted for the DPP in 2020, and most of the 5.5 million who voted for the KMT, would qualify as 'enemies' of the CCP."
In March, the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Congress passed Chinese nationalist author Zhou Xiaoping's resolution calling for the creation of a public “Taiwan Province Separatist Forces Blacklist.”
In a March 3 Weibo posting, Zhou said that if the blacklisted do not “confess their crimes … or voluntarily surrender … anyone can arrest or kill them…,” during a Chinese invasion of Taiwan.
Fisher went on to conclude:
"Taiwan’s citizens must do their best to prepare their families for the future war, imploring their local and national government leaders to devise defensive plans for local communities, including stockpiles of supplies, water, food, and medicines to survive a CCP invasion.
"And: imploring local and national government leaders to provide weapons and training, or legal authority to purchase their own, for a national militia to give Taiwanese their own best chance to save their families and defeat a CCP invasion."
Free Press International
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