TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — A group of Taiwanese anti-war scholars released a statement on March 20 that called on Taiwan to maintain “equidistant relationships” between China and the U.S., though one of Taiwan’s leading experts on diplomacy says the problem is not being too close to the U.S. but being too distant from China.
Director of National Chengchi University’s Department of Diplomacy Professor Yeh-chung Lu (盧業中) told Taiwan News that building closer relations with China does not mean asking for unification, but it would contribute to Taiwan's security.
Lu said, “We need to restore certain kinds of channels of communication, as the U.S. is doing right now. They are still maintaining the channels of communication with China, so the problem is not that we are too close to the states. The problem is we are too distant from China."
Relations between China and Taiwan have worsened significantly in recent years and communications have reached a standstill. China has ramped up pressure on Taiwan’s remaining diplomatic allies, causing nine to switch diplomatic recognition to Beijing since 2016, with the loss of Honduras being the most recent in late March.
In a press conference announcing the anti-war statement, retired National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University Professor Daiwei Fu (傅大為) said that China’s constant threats to Taiwan mostly originate from U.S. provocations. However, Lu believes Taiwan’s present relationship with the U.S. is “totally fine.” He said that Taiwan’s relationship with the U.S. enables Taiwan to secure itself from military threats that are directly related to Taiwan’s survival.
The anti-war scholars’ statement called for the Taiwan government to redirect military spending toward climate mitigation and social welfare policies, but Lu said “they are proposing an idea that is desirable but not feasible.”
“If we take the money from military equipment and put everything into climate change, maybe we are doing something very good for the following generations,” Lu said, "but if we can not secure ourselves, our following generations may face more severe military challenges from China, that are directly related to our survival."
