To the citizens of democratic Taiwan from an American friend

James E. Auer Mar. 02, 2004

I first visited Taiwan in 1963 as a young naval officer. Taiwan was not a democracy which I could quickly see. There were policemen and soldiers on every street corner and many signs calling for a "return" to the Chinese mainland.

At that time I did not know that in 1949 U.S. President Harry Truman had decided the U.S. would not take special measures to protect Chiang Kai-shek's Kuomintang government in exile, a decision that Truman partially reversed in 1950 at the outbreak of the Korean War. At that time Truman ordered the U.S. Seventh Fleet to protect Taiwan against a military takeover by communist China but warned Chiang Kai-shek that the U.S. would not support a Nationalist-led offensive against the Chinese mainland.

In 1969 I studied Japanese politics at Harvard University under Professor Edwin O. Reischauer who had recently returned from Tokyo where he had served as ambassador, having been appointed by his former student, President John F. Kennedy. In his course Professor Reischauer offered his opinion that Taiwan deserved to be an independent country because the overwhelming majority of its population were descendents of Chinese people who came to Taiwan over 200 years before and had developed their own culture.

Although U.S. presidents since Truman have continued his order to the Seventh Fleet to protect Taiwan from a communist invasion, President Carter in 1979 and President Clinton in 1998 wavered. In switching U.S. recognition of China to the PRC in 1979, Carter essentially assumed Taiwan would be absorbed by the PRC, a judgment which was disputed by bipartisan majorities in the U.S. Congress which passed the Taiwan Relations Act. Unlike Carter, the U.S.Congress was not willing to see Taiwan incorporated against the will ofits people into the PRC. More important, the people of Taiwan showed their unwillingness to consider any fundamental change in the status quo; you persevered to maintain a separation from the PRC which, despite its strawman argument that Taiwan is a rogue province of China,has never exercised even one day's sovereignty over Taiwan. Moreover, when a native Taiwanese finally succeeded to the presidency of the Republic of China on Taiwan in 1991, he proceeded to set in motion a democratic election system which alarmed Beijing which maintains that democracy is not an Asian value.

In 1998 President Bill Clinton defied America's strategic national interest by casting doubt in a statement in Shanghai that the U.S. would maintain the Truman commitment to prevent a Chinese attempt to incorporate Taiwan by force; but the U.S. Congress, by even bigger bipartisan majorities than in 1979, immediately reacted by reaffirming the Taiwan Relations Act. With Taiwan having demonstrated dramatic development of a viable democratic government in the 1990s, Congress was even less willing to lessen America's commitment to Taiwan's security in 1998.

In 2001 I visited Taiwan for the first time in 22 years. The contrast was remarkable. The policemen and soldiers on the street corners were gone as well as were the signs calling for a return to the mainland. In 2002 I had the honor to meet former President Lee Teng-hui. Listening to President Lee, I became very excited. His words, his manner and his character reminded me of two of my lifetime heroes, Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and President Ronald Reagan. Taiwan under President Lee and President Chen Shui-bian has become a vibrant free market democracy. Taiwan is not a perfect democracy (neither is the United States) but Taiwan's progress has been remarkable.

Unlike Tibet which deserves to be independent and Hong Kong which was promised to be able to have considerable autonomy in 1999, Taiwan is fortunate. I say fortunate even though Tibet gets lots of attention and sympathy all over the world, even from famous movie actors and, by comparison, Taiwan is ignored by many countries. But since Taiwan is a strategically important island which never fell into communist hands, it is easier to defend itself and the United States has a strategically important reason to prevent Taiwan to fall to communist aggression. Tibet has virtually no capability to break away from China; and for the United States to assist Tibet would require a land war with China. The same would apply to Hong Kong. The US does not desire to fight China over Taiwan either, but I am firmly convinced the United States would fight to prevent the PRC from taking Taiwan by force.

On March 20, the Taiwanese people have the opportunity to decide whether you will allow Chen Shui-bian to continue as president or to allow the Kuomintang to return to power. At the same time you will be asked if the government should buy new antimissile systems to counter the growing buildup of ballistic missiles Beijing has deployed along its coast opposite Taiwan. During my first visits to Taiwan in the 1960s and 1970s, you were never asked who you wanted as your leaders nor what kind of defense you wanted. In fact your military forces today are not organized properly to defend an island nation against an invasion or from a missile attack from across the Taiwan Strait. President Lee and President Chen have made great progress but the MND is still not ideally organized to deal with the threats Taiwan faces. Until now you have never been asked if your present military is the kind of military force appropriate to defend the island of Taiwan. Never before have the people of Taiwan been asked what kind of a military you want. As citizens of a democracy, you really have the opportunity as well as the obligation to decide what kind of military forces you want and need.

Notice also that I mentioned that the Taiwanese people will be asked on March 20 if you should try to develop defensive equipment to try to protect yourselves against an offensive attack rather than attempting to build offensive missiles to attack the PRC. Taiwanese fathers, would you fail to protect your wife or your children if they were threatened by a burglar or by a deranged person who broke into your home or attacked one of your family on the street? Taiwan cannot protect itself perfectly from a Chinese missile attack; however, an effective missile defense system would complicate Chinese military planning. Complicating an aggressor's planning is the essence of deterrence. An effective Taiwanese missile defense system reinforced by the commitment of the United States to prevent a military takeover of Taiwan against the will of the Taiwanese people would constitute a very strong deterrent.

Citizens of Taiwan, if I were one of you, I would vote for a missile defense system and I would vote for President Chen Shui-bian on March 20. I know President Chen is committed to the continuation and maturation of Taiwanese democracy. Mr. Lien might be an honorable man, but I really don't understand if the Kuomintang would continue to maintain and strengthen Taiwanese democracy and the ability to defend against a missile attack. Can you afford to take a chance? Your American friends hope and encourage you chose to continue your democracy on March 20.