The first time I heard or read about Taiwan, former Formosa, was because of the artillery bombardments that the People’s Republic of China, directed as a barracks by Mao Tse Tung, had ordered against the islands of Quemoy and Matsu, an attack that the islanders responded with dignity just like they are doing now. This time by order of Xi Jinping.
The Republic of China, Taiwan, is in the middle of the road in the complex relations between the United States and the People’s Republic of China. If international relations in general are very complex, the situation is more delicate between Washington and Beijing, a context that worsens with the ancestral imperial appetites of the mandarins of that country who support their growing military forces.
Beijing has frequently attacked the border with India, in turn has harassed Japanese ships, has a dispute with the Philippines and even sunk fishing boats from other countries, China claims jurisdiction over the South China Sea, which is closer to other sovereign states , a situation that determined the former Secretary of State, Mike Pompeo, to say “From the mountain ranges of the Himalayas to the exclusive zone in the waters of Vietnam, to the Senkaku Islands and beyond, Beijing follows a pattern of instigating territorial disputes”, Pompeo said. “The world cannot allow this harassment to take place, nor should it allow it to continue.”
It is evident that the expansionist vision of Beijing corresponds to those of other imperial powers of the past such as those of Rome, Russia and Great Britain, for these countries, territorial occupations were the basis of their projection, a strategy that China reflects due to its numerous disputes territorial relations with its neighbors, among which Taiwan is by far the most important objective because regardless of the geographical claim, it is a challenge to the Chinese Communist Party for being an example of economic progress in freedom and pluralist democracy.
Washington and Taipei had a privileged relationship until Richard Nixon decided to establish ties with Beijing in 1972, without requiring the communist leadership to explicitly recognize the Republic of China or the island of Formosa, as we identified it in Cuba, an event that in the opinion of the writer José Antonio Albertini was President Nixon’s mistake because he did not heed Napoleon Bonaparte’s well-known warning about the Asian giant, “China is a sleeping giant. Let him sleep because when she wakes up the world will shake.”
There is no doubt that Polyphemus is waking up and willing to put the world on the brink of a nuclear conflict as his counterpart in Moscow has done by attacking Ukraine, he is demonstrating it with his aggressive reaction to the visit of the president of the House of Representatives of United States, Nancy Pelosi, to the Island that she longs to occupy.
Some question the congresswoman’s visit, alluding that it was an electoral gesture rather than a reaffirmation of the US commitment to defend Taiwan, but regardless of the objective, the reality is that the visit was very good for Taiwanese who could doubt the firmness of a very temperamental ally as it demonstrated in Vietnam, 1973, and in Afghanistan, 2021, painful realities that do not deny that it is the only great nation capable of facing the danger of political fundamentalism in any of its manifestations.
China’s military deployment and its dangerous military maneuvers in the vicinity of the Island should be rejected by all of us. Beijing’s military actions have been, in practice, a sea and air blockade that prevents the normal course of life in the region, particularly on the threatened island.
Taiwan has every right to defend its model of life and the sector of the country that promotes independence, with all the risks that this implies, must have the respect of everyone who has left their country for political reasons, the imperialist policy that promoted by Beijing is a certain threat that should not be considered carelessly, especially if we are aware that the American continent is another of its objectives, as reflected by the communications base in Neuquén in Argentina, which can fulfill the same purpose as the one in Lourdes in Cuba for the former Soviet Union, and Beijing has also shown interest in building an Antarctic logistics base in Ushuaia, the end of the Argentine world.
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