KEVAL MARIMUTHU
THE DECISION by US Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi to visit the Republic of China (Taiwan) has evoked a rapid response from the People's Republic of China (China), mere moments after the US Air Force jet carrying her landed in Taoyuan, Taiwan.
The People's Liberation Army immediately launched a series of military training exercises around the maritime borders of Taiwan. Beijing has closed the airspace over Fujian, their province closest to Taiwan. Video evidence has emerged of columns of military vehicles moving on beaches in Fujian and the transportation of naval military equipment by trains.
The question to be asked is whether the landing of jet SPAR19 (the most tracked flight in history) will be the spark that lights the powder keg? Thrusting the world once more into the grips of global conflict, or whether these are just the toothless growls of a paper tiger, angered that the global hegemon has come knocking on its door?
The genesis of this conflict finds itself in the 1927 Chinese Civil War. The Republic of China's (ROC) leader was Chiang Kai-shek, whose party, the Kuomintang, had in 1928 controlled the majority of mainland China. The ROC eventually began losing ground to the Chinese Communist Party, a revolutionary group led by Mao Zedong.
In 1948, it became apparent that the ROC's defeat on mainland China was inescapable. President Kai-shek began planning the relocation of government, resources, cultural artefacts and military equipment to Taiwan. In October 1949, the Communist Party established control over mainland China and proclaimed the People's Republic of China (PRC).
In Taiwan, the Kuomintang continued its ROC government, declaring Taipei (the largest city in Taiwan) the temporary capital, with the intention of one day launching an invasion to retake the mainland.
The disparity between the economic and military capabilities of the PRC and ROC is staggering. Chinese GDP is estimated to be over US$14.7 trillion. Taiwanese GDP, while not paltry, is estimated at just over US$850 billion, only 1/17 of Chinese.
Militarily, Taiwanese standing armed forces are estimated to be in the region of 165,000. China boasts active military personnel of over two million. These statistics beg the question: why has China not taken its rogue province of Taiwan? It has the resources and manpower. What seems to be the issue?
The simple answer is that the PRC has tried and is still trying to reunify all of China. The main stumbling block to its ambitions is the US. The United States supported the ROC as part of its policy of communist containment in the post-WW2 era, and these ties still exist to this day.
In 1978, the US Congress passed the Taiwan Relations Act mandating the supply of defensive weapons to Taiwan. The US and ROC regularly conduct joint training exercises. The US is providing and has provided technical and military support to Taiwan, helping repel PRC attempts to take Taiwan and the surrounding islands in the 1950s and years subsequent.
What, now, is the differen
