Peace is up to Xi Jinping to decide

When Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi () met with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on September 27, Wang said the biggest threat in the Taiwan Strait was the increasingly uncontrolled actions of Taiwanese separatists .

Blinken responded by emphasizing the importance of maintaining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait, before turning to human rights issues in Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong.

Wang's statements are not new and can be found in official United Front talking points and phrases organized by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) over the past decades.

The CCP employs the world's most unique system of logic: it accuses anyone who does not conform to the party's intentions of endangering peace, while refusing to rule out the threat of invasion. His absurd logic is that if you do not accept his so-called peaceful unification, the problem will be solved by the use of military force.

Nowhere else in the world can you find an aggressor who considers his actions peaceful. This is as absurd as a sexual predator pulling out a knife and declaring that they and their victim are meant for each other.

The CCP's excuse for wanting to invade Taiwan is that it wants to maintain territorial integrity. President William Lai () pushed back on this assertion during an interview with Taiwanese news anchor Catherine Chang (), rhetorically asking that if the CCP really wants to maintain its territorial integrity, then why doesn't it reclaim the vast land stolen by Russia over the last year. 1858 Unequal Treaty of Aigun?

Lai correctly identified the expansion of hegemonic power as the CCP's true motive.

Occupation of Taiwan would certainly allow China to expand its hegemony, but it would lead to a clash between China and the United States, as well as other nations that are part of a democratic alliance. China would certainly pay dearly for getting involved in such a confrontation.

Taiwan has been a democracy for almost three decades and Taiwanese people are accustomed to a life of freedom and freedom. If the CCP annexed Taiwan, it would have to go to great lengths to suppress all democratic activity there.

If the CCP truly aims for world domination, it should try the following steps:

First, we must understand why the vast majority of Taiwanese are not interested in accepting unification. After all, it's not rocket science. Why would the Taiwanese, with a global freedom rating of 94 points on the Freedom Houses Democracy Index, be willing to accept being governed by the CCP, when China only has 9 points in that rating? and is not considered a free society? Taiwan's desire for independence was forced upon it by the actions of the CCP.

The CCP, as well as its proxies in Taiwan, including the legislative coalition between the Blue and White camps, often criticize Taiwan for taking a more pro-American path. The CCP does not seem to realize that the reason Taiwan is moving in this direction is because Taiwanese people want to maintain the democratic rights and freedoms they enjoy.

If the CCP does not want Taiwan independence, why does it not implement democratic reforms to make the unification proposal more acceptable to the Taiwanese? It would be better to find a way to encourage Taiwan to adopt a more pro-China path rather than trying to align itself with the United States.

How could the CCP achieve this? In addition to introducing democratic reforms, China should recognize Taiwan, establish an equal and mutually beneficial relationship, respect Taiwan's wish to join the UN, and accept bilateral exchanges of diplomats. Perhaps Taiwan and China could then forge a military alliance. That would certainly raise eyebrows in Washington.

The situation is reminiscent of circumstances that occurred across the strait more than 340 years ago, when the government of the Manchu Qing dynasty offered its final peace terms to Cheng Ching (), who had attempted to invade China from Taiwan to support an unsuccessful rebellion. in southern China against the Qing court.

The missive read: Great men know what the times demand. There is no need to fan the embers of extinguished fires, nor add to the misery of people who have already endured so much. Lay down your arms and you will no longer need to come to this land, nor wear your hair in ponytails, nor wear Manchu clothing. If you wish to be a vassal and pay homage to the court, you can; if you don't want this, that is also acceptable. You can live your life in Taiwan, just as Jizi () found a home in Joseon (on the Korean Peninsula) at the fall of the Shang Dynasty, and as Qin Dynasty alchemist Xu Fu () established himself in Japan. The world will experience no calamity, the people will experience no more problems and the coastal regions will experience peace. It's up to you.

Would Chinese President Xi Jinping () be ready to lay down his arms and allow the coastal regions to experience peace?

After all, if he had allied himself with the more China-friendly Taiwan, if he continued to help Xinjiang and Tibet establish their own sovereignty, the whole world would be stunned by what he was doing.

It's up to him to decide.

Lee Hsiao-feng is an honorary professor at the National Taipei University of Education.

Translated by Tim Smith and Paul Cooper