Having written numerous essays on the issue of Taiwan’s sovereignty over the past two years, I have gathered them to form a small book of 50,000 words. Additionally, with my research and observations spanning 50 years, I proposed the “Kinmen and Matsu Special Peace Zone Bill.”
The subtitle of my book is “Extending an Olive Branch to China Leader Xi Jinping (習近平).” I extend this olive branch with enthusiasm not because I am afraid of China — it is because the fact that war is merciless and peace is priceless holds true for Chinese, Taiwanese, and everyone in the world.
I was born during World War II, a period of relentless U.S. air raids. I once served as a fire support officer on Lesser Kinmen Island, enduring the Chinese People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) “shelling on odd days and resting on even days” tactic for over a year. Every other day, the PLA’s howitzers flew our way.
Death was at every corner, any time that I failed to take cover. However, before it could, I was arrested and imprisoned for opposing authoritarianism.
The war and my identity as a subject of a colony inspired and drove me to pave a path in life that became markedly distinct from that of regular Taiwanese. Since my youth, I have resolved to dedicate my life to two missions.
The first is to end Taiwan’s fate as a colony, as it had been for 400 years, and make it a country of freedom, democracy, human rights, and rule of law. The second is to have the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait coexist peacefully as brothers on the principle of equality and mutual respect.
The first mission has been achieved in my lifetime, after much hard work with my fellow Taiwanese. Freedom is always the spoil of rebels and never a gift bestowed by rulers. I am extremely proud of this achievement.
Very few rebels in human history have been able to repeatedly evade death and see their ideals realized like I have. Though I did not become rich because of this, and am even seen by those in power today as a useless old man who should be cast aside, I still believe that I have forged with my own hands a milestone in history.
However, I probably will not live to see my final dream of Taiwan and China’s peaceful coexistence realized.
What I am urging and trying to achieve now is to simply remove the fuse that most easily leads to cross-strait conflict, the bait that leads to war between the U.S. and China. Make Kinmen and Matsu special peace zones, buffer areas between Taiwan and China. Give them a new role as a window of peace in the Taiwan Strait.
When the idea came
This has been my goal since I was the chair of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), when I called for removing a military presence from Kinmen and Matsu, demilitarizing the two outlying islands, and making them peace zones. At the time, I was openly attacked and insulted by politicians from both the ruling and opposition parties.
However, those in power, while attacking me, have quietly been reducing the number of troops from Kinmen and Matsu. Over 30 years, the number has been reduced from 100,000 to just over 10,000.
By now, the military presence on Kinmen and Matsu serves no use whatsoever in changing Taiwan and China’s fate. The tiny islands are not even included in the U.S.’ “Taiwan Relations Act.” Military presence on the islands is no longer a decisive factor in the dilemma of independence and unification and merely makes local residents, who once endured the cruelty of war, hostages of the conflict.
By stationing troops on Kinmen and Matsu, Taiwan is like a hooligan brandishing a katana before the mansion of a giant.
The “mini-three links” have been implemented between Kinmen, Matsu, and China for over 20 years. To some degree, the three places have formed their own circle that is separate from Taiwan.
Nowadays, the residents of Kinmen have finally begun to call for Kinmen to become a permanent demilitarized zone. They refuse to continue living in fear of war.
This is a very human desire, one that the leaders of Taiwan, China, and the U.S. have no right to oppose. Under the Kinmen demilitarization policy, the interests of local residents should be prioritized when considering projects such as the Kinmen-Xiamen Bridge or the Kinmen-Xiamen Underwater Tunnel.
Taiwanese have no right to interfere. This is a just reward for Kinmen residents after enduring 40 years of war.
Calls from Kinmen residents
However, until today, the major political parties and presidential candidates have remained deaf to the calls of Kinmen residents. As the election approaches, the three presidential candidates have merely recited their empty slogans of “peace” while visiting Kinmen, in an effort to gain more votes.
Their words are empty, and they have no intention of taking action at all. Furthermore, they are ignorant of the fact that, historically and geographically speaking, Kinmen is different from Taiwan and Penghu.
Kinmen and Taiwan have been lumped together only because, in 1949, as Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) lost the Chinese Civil War and retreated to Taiwan, the Kuomintang (KMT) happened to win the Battle of Guningtou. Chiang then fooled Taiwanese by dubbing Kinmen “Taiwan’s defensive outpost” and “the springboard for the counterattack on the mainland.”
In truth, Kinmen is unable to defend Taiwan, and Taiwan is unable to protect Kinmen and Matsu. If something happens in Kinmen and Matsu, the only impact on Taiwan would be that it would have to ship its youth over to become cannon fodder.
More than 70 years have passed. The “Taiwan problem” and “Kinmen and Matsu problem” should have long been separated.
The complexity of the “Taiwan problem” has grown beyond the authority of Taiwan’s president and China’s leader since a long time ago. It has become entangled with the issue of international peace in the local region, as well as international economy and trade. Just in terms of the foundry model, Taiwan has reached 64% of the global market share, making it an important player the world cannot simply ignore.
Meanwhile, the “Kinmen and Matsu problem” involves just tiny places at the edge of China. To fulfill the demand of locals to make them permanent demilitarized zones and peace zones, all it takes is for Taiwan’s Legislative Yuan to pass the “Kinmen and Matsu Special Peace Zone Act.”
Deal with reality
I hope that presidential hopefuls such as Lai Ching-te (賴清德), Ko Wen-je (柯文哲), Hou Yu-ih (侯友宜), and Terry Gou (郭台銘) can recognize the true nature of the problem; rather than crying for “peace” in Kinmen then complicating the Kinmen and Matsu problem, continuing to lump it together with the Taiwan problem and making it unresolvable.
The issue of the Kinmen and Matsu permanent demilitarized zone is something that does not require negotiation with the Chinese government and can be done independently by the Legislative Yuan. Taiwan’s politicians have been disregarding the main issue all this time and throwing around empty words and slogans instead of taking action.
Of course, I know that in the minds and conspiracies of certain Taiwanese and American “strategists,” Kinmen and Matsu are still bait. They imagine tempting China to take the islands so that the U.S. may destroy China’s unripened ambitions to build an empire.
As time passes, the bait’s allure has dwindled greatly. I believe that Xi has already understood that taking Kinmen and Matsu is not the same as taking Taiwan.
On the other hand, some people in China or Taiwan hoping for quick “unification” may still believe that by cutting the ties between Kinmen, Matsu and Taiwan and making the islands a peace zone, Taiwan would be completely separated from China’s borders. In fact, Kinmen and Matsu have belonged to China for the past several hundred years and share a history and experience completely different from Taiwan and Penghu.
Kinmen and Matsu are definitely not the umbilical cord between Taiwan and China. Taiwan’s sovereignty today has nothing to do with whether or not Kinmen and Matsu belong to it.
Kinmen and Matsu would never threaten Taiwan, nor would they help with Taiwan’s defense. Without the U.S.’ interference, Taiwan has no way of defending Kinmen and Matsu either. There is no such thing as “the loss of Kinmen and Matsu means the defeat of Taiwan.”
Solutions
By not making Kinmen and Matsu demilitarized peace zones and not allowing them to maintain a unique friendship between Taiwan and China simultaneously, the root of war is left, and the people of Kinmen and Matsu are put at risk.
The result of the “civil war” between the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and KMT was decided 73 years ago. According to International Law and customs, Taiwan and China are states under separate, independent rule, no matter if Taiwan takes the name of Taiwan or the Republic of China.
A treaty, whether signed or not, does not change the fact that the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of China each exercise full sovereign rights and shoulder relevant obligations within their effective territories. International law has an extremely clear definition for recognizing a state or a government.
The number of diplomatic allies has nothing to do with a country’s right to survive and exist. Diplomatic ties are just for facilitating political, economic, or cultural exchanges between two governments, which is why they can be severed or restored between governments according to political considerations.
However, the recognition of a “state” is irrevocable once established. The recognition of a country or a government has been clearly defined by international customs and is a different matter.
The severance of diplomatic ties is between governments and is not relevant to a state’s existence. This requires no more explanation.
The idea that the beginning of a war requires a declaration, while the end of one requires the signing of peace treaties, is an outdated concept of international custom tracing back before World War II. Nowadays, there are many wars fought without a declaration, and when one ends, treaties are not necessarily signed.
Often, wars end when guns stop firing and troops are withdrawn, and reparations or international accountability may not even be discussed. We must understand that there are still many unwritten rules within the international community and under international law.
If another war occurs across the Taiwan Strait, it is, of course, another international conflict. It would be impossible to prevent international concern and interference by claiming that, since Taiwan and China have never signed a peace treaty, the war is “an extension of the Chinese Civil War.”
It would also be impossible to do so by citing Taiwan or China’s constitution, for if a country’s constitution allows it to annex another country’s territory and claim the other country as its own, what would happen to the international order? These are all wild claims made by clueless politicians. Anyone with some knowledge of international law knows it.
Therefore, the people and governments of Taiwan and China can only pursue a prosperous and safe future across the strait while respecting each other’s effective rule.
The development of Taiwan and China over the past 73 years is the best proof that any attempt to unilaterally change the cross-strait status quo, whether by force or not, is just an illusion. Slogans such as China’s “bathe Taiwan in blood and liberate Taiwan” and Taiwan’s “counterattack on China and eliminate the communists” are but the rulers’ daydreams.
Shared land of joy
China’s constant threats have become just lullabies to Taiwanese.
Unless a war breaks out between China and the U.S. or there is World War III, it would be difficult to break the status quo across the Taiwan Strait. Yet a war between China and the U.S. would be brutal and a horrible and stupid historical tragedy rather than the triumph of any party.
Taiwan is Thucydides' Trap — is it worth it for China to fall into it just to take over Taiwan? It would be just like when warlords like Tojo Hideki attacked Pearl Harbor, which ultimately led to the defeat of the Japanese empire.
Making Kinmen and Matsu a special peace zone is the modern man’s true contribution to history. It is erecting a real historical milestone.
I am old now and have nothing but my loyalty and passion. With this olive branch, I sincerely invite China to join the effort to contribute to peace.
In particular, I hope that Xi Jinping can show the dignity of a great country and declare to the world, for the sake of the world: Expand the Kinmen and Matsu permanent demilitarized zone to become Xiamen, Kinmen, Pingtan, and Matzu permanent demilitarized peace zone. Make this the new cross-strait window for heartfelt interactions.
Just like how God created the world: and it was so. Taiwan and China will finally enjoy a shared land of joy.
Cut the fuse and remove the bait, allow these tiny islands living under the shadow of war for the past 70 years to welcome a warm spring and live forever in peace. Taking a new, meaningful step towards peace across the strait will be more brilliant than “making a concession” toward Taiwan, and it will make Taiwanese see China in a different light.
This is part of Xi’s great historical mission and something a sage would do. No one speaks of cultural sentiments while sharpening knives.
