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- Mr. SOLARZ. Mr. Speaker, President Bush recently announced his administration's intention to sell up to 150 F-16 aircraft to Taiwan. Dr. David Tsai, the president of the Center for Taiwan International Relations, has prepared an analysis of that decision. His essay presents a point of view that deserves consideration by those who care about the security of Taiwan, and I therefore ask that it be printed in the Congressional Record and made accessible to our colleagues.
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The Taiwanese-American community strongly supports the sale of F-16s to Taiwan. 95% of the Taiwanese in the United States are pro-independence and believe that the F-16 sale is an important step in the eventual establishment of an independent, democrat Republic of Taiwan.
Taiwan has been colonized in succession by Spain, the Netherlands, the Manchus, the Japanese and finally, the Nationalist Chinese Kuomintang party, the KMT. Taiwan, long despised by the Chinese as a frontier area inhabited by savages, was colonized by the Taiwanese for the same reasons that the first Europeans came to America: to escape oppressive economic and political conditions in their homelands. The national identity of the Taiwanese has grown out of this twin experience of colonialism and pioneering, just as the American spirit did.
Today, the KMT still controls Taiwan. Most Americans are unfamiliar with the KMT's 38 years of martial law rule and the terror inflicted on the Taiwanese known as the `White Terror,' in which thousands of people disappeared. To be sure, there has been some political liberalization and progress in the last decade, forced upon the KMT by domestic and international pressure. However, the KMT still controls the electronic media. It threatens to ban the opposition, refuses to allow public discussion of the opposition's platform and jails persons opposed to the regime. Despite KMT claims to the contrary, many Taiwanese in exile are still not permitted to return to Taiwan, in violation of the UN declaration on human rights, to which the KMT government is a signatory.
Because both the People's Republic of China and the KMT claim to be the sole legitimate government of `China,' they force countries to recognize one or the other. This has meant isolation for the people of Taiwan. The utter bankruptcy of this policy has been exposed by South Korea's recent decision to switch recognition to the PRC. At this time, only one nation of any importance, South Africa, recognizes Taiwan, as China. Taiwan is not a member of major international organizations and its 20 million inhabitants are not represented in the UN. It cannot even be found in World Bank economic statistics.
Independence advocates believe that a democratic Republic of Taiwan is the answer to the twin problems of KMT oppression and Chinese expansionism. An independent, democratic Taiwan would be a welcome addition to the United Nations, the World Bank and other international organizations. At home, stripped of its claim to represent China, the KMT is just another right-wing political party struggling to hold on to its undemocratic and oppressive rule by the shop-worn methods of propaganda, electoral malfeasance and outright terror. In an independent Taiwan, it could not last.
China's claim to Taiwan and repeated threats to use force against it are the reasons Taiwan needs F-16s. The PRC is clearly an expansionist state. China has from time to time claimed all or part of Korea, Russia, Mongolia, Tibet, India, Vietnam, Singapore, Taiwan, Japan and sundry islands in the seas around it. If China's leaders could hit upon a way to go about it, they would no doubt claim the Chinatowns of Los Angeles and New York too and demand allegiance from Chinese-Americans.
In recent years China has been upgrading its offensive capability. It has acquired the highly-regarded Su-27 and Mig-31 fighters from Russia. China has also purchased an airborne early warning capability and midair refueling technology. It has been pursuing a policy of naval expansion, laying down escort ships and attempting to build or procure an aircraft carrier. It has placed troops on islands in the South China sea, causing grave concern among staunch U.S. allies in Singapore, Manila and Jakarta.
Arthur Waldron, writing in the Wall Street Journal, sketched a scenario in which, without this sale, China's military expansionism might provoke military buildups, perhaps even including nuclear weapons, in Japan and South Korea. Strong, clear signals need to be sent to Beijing about its alarming military build-up. For this reason alone, canceling the F-16 sale would be entirely wrong.
But there are other, more urgent reasons. China has never renounced the use of force to annex Taiwan. The PRC has repeatedly threatened to invade the island if it moves closer to Russia, if there are serious domestic disturbances, if it builds nuclear weapons, if it refuses to negotiate for `unification,' or if it declares independence. This expansionism and intransigence are a serious impediment to Taiwan's independence and future existence as a democratic republic.
Taiwan's outmoded air defense forces, consisting of ancient F-104 Starfighters and F-5 export fighters, no longer give the island a credible deterrent. Without some kind of modern fighter, the security of the island and the 22 million people who inhabit it are endangered, for China cannot invade if Taiwan controls the air over the strait
separating China from Taiwan. The Taiwan government's negotiations with France for the purchase of the Mirage fighter illustrate the seriousness of the island's needs. Modern fighters are imperative for the island's survival.
Independence advocates believe that the sale of the F-16s will help deter Chinese aggression and set the stage for Taiwan's independence from China. We believe further that the U.S. has a responsibility to both the people of Taiwan and to history to sell Taiwan these aircraft. This responsibility is codified under U.S. law as the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) of 1979.
The TRA charges the United States with the responsibility for the security of Taiwan. In Section 1 the TRA declares that `peace and stability in the area are in the political, security and economic interests of the United States.' It goes on to say that it is the policy of the United States `to provide Taiwan with arms of a defensive character.' Finally, it directs the United States in Sec 3(a) to `make available such articles and defense services in such quantity as may be necessary to enable Taiwan to maintain a sufficient self-defense capability.' The TRA alone provides sufficient legal basis for approval of the arms sale.
Since the sale was announced, the PRC has been protesting, saying that it is in violation of the 1982 Communique which limits U.S. arms sales to levels in the years pervious to 1982. It is true that under the terms of the 1982 Communique the U.S. can only provide limited arms sales to Taiwan. But this communique is predicated on the fundamental assumption that China will seek a peaceful resolution to the Taiwan question. As the military build-up, border conflicts with India, Vietnam, and the former USSR as well as the massacre in Tiananmen demonstrate, peaceful resolutions are not the PRC's strong suit.
Despite the hiatus of the 1980s, military aid to Taiwan has historically been the position of the United States, Between 1950 and 1979 the United States provided some $4.5 billion in arms and advice to Taiwan. Many of Taiwan's weapons are based on American designs such as the Sidewinder, Sparrow and Harpoon missiles. Currently American technology is aiding Taiwan's manufacture of its own Indigenous Defense Fighter. Contrary to what some observers are saying, the proposed arms sale is not a departure from traditional American behavior towards Taiwan.
Nor can the sale be criticized for escalating military tension in East Asia. Were it not for Chinese expansionism, Taiwan would not now be seeking advanced modern fighters. Unlike China, Taiwan is no threat to its neighbors, nor does it desire to become one. Regrettably, the sale is necessary because the only language China understands is that of force.
The KMT has emphasized that the sale will help guarantee peace and stability in East Asia. In the short term this is true. But in the long-term, the problem of Taiwan isn't going to go away no matter how many fighters the U.S. throws at it.
Taiwan's long-term problem is the conflicting claims of the PRC and the KMT. So long as each side claims the other's territory and ignores the wishes of the Taiwanese, only tension can result. The self-evident solution to this impasse is the island's independence from China. Without a strong military to preserve that independence, such a solution is unworkable. However, given a credible deterrent, it is likely that the problems with the PRC can be resolved peacefully and to the mutual benefit of all involved.
The world has changed mightily in the last decade. Soviet Bloc Communism has been abolished, independent states rising in its stead. There is no longer any need to `play the China card' against the U.S.S.R.
Moreover, previous advocates of the `One China' policy have recently come to question its validity. Publications have been full of articles in the last few weeks questioning America's China policy. Writing in the Spring 1992 Foreign Affairs, Roger W. Sullivan, bluntly urges the administration to discard the out-dated `China card.' He believes China's value to the United States has been transformed by the end of the Cold War. Describing current attempts to preserve the old relationship, he says: `This thinking is misguided and policies based on it will not work.' Other American experts agree.
More importantly, there have been fundamental changes in the thinking of people on either side of the Taiwan Straits. Within the KMT itself there are serious misgivings about continuing the `One China' policy. High officials of the KMT openly admit that over ninety percent of Taiwan's population would go for independence if the threat of an invasion by the PRC did not hang over the island. Progressive members of the ruling party have formed a caucus, the Wisdom coalition, to push for increased democratization for Taiwan. Though few will speak openly, many in the Wisdom coalition favor independence. The Deputy Director of the Mainland Affairs Commission, the KMT's negotiating body with China, said after South Korea switched recognition that China's policy of isolating Taiwan can only lead to one result: Taiwan independence.
The opposition Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has long called for an Independent Taiwan policy. Increasingly, Taiwan's scholars have followed suit. Chen Hsiao-ting of the Taiwan government's Institute of International Relations, for instance, recently called on the government to `face international reality.' As long as it claims to be the sole
government of China, no other nation will recognize it, he said. He went on to describe the relationship between China and Taiwan as an `international relationship,' rather than a `bi-coastal' one.
In other words, China policy both here and abroad is clearly proving inadequate to cope with the post-Cold War world. It is in a state of flux. Here is an opportunity for the United States. In the past the U.S. rationalized the alliance with China by saying that it was needed to counter the USSR. But the USSR is history. The U.S. no longer needs China. Indeed, it is quite the other way around.
What can the PRC really do about arms sales to Taiwan or U.S. support for an independent Taiwanese state? Very little. If Beijing threatens to withdraw from international arms control negotiations, how is that different from its behavior in the past? China has a huge trade surplus with the U.S. Who will get hurt in a trade war? It must have Western technology, Western capital and Western markets for its products.
The fact is that China has virtually no cards to play in the Great Game. The Cold War is over. The conflict in Cambodia is on its way to being resolved. It is dependent on the West for technology and capital for development. Economic reform is splitting the country into a stagnant north and a dynamic south. Its leadership is badly divided and analysts speculate about the power struggle likely to break out when Deng dies.
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Never before has the United States had the chance China's weakness now presents to effect real, vital, far-reaching policy changes to secure a peaceful, democratic free-market transition in Asia.
In light of the new realities of East Asian politics we urge the Congress to make the F-16 sale not a barren gesture in a passing election campaign but the basis of a new U.S. policy toward Taiwan and China. The `One China' policy is obviously dead. Taiwan is not and probably will never be a part of China. Writing in the New York Times, former Assistant Secretary of State for Intelligence and Research Morton Abramowitz asserted that the United States can live with an independent Taiwan. More fundamentally, he added, Americans must realize that the decision is in the hands of the people of Taiwan. We ask Congress and the United States to consider the following recommendations:
(1) The U.S. should support a plebescite or some other free and fair method under which the people of Taiwan will have a say in their own fate;
(2) The U.S. should use the F-16 sale to press for progress on human rights and democratization in Taiwan. In particular, Taiwan should release Dr. George Chang, who recently received a 10-year sentence which was overturned by Taiwan's High Court. Taiwan authorities should also stop persecuting political critic Cheng Tzu-tsai and environmentalist Ben P. Liao on trumped-up charges. Remember, the term `political prisoner' in Taiwan covers not just men and women jailed for trying to create a democratic state in Taiwan, but environmentalists and labor leaders as well, Furthermore, Taiwan should cease government monopoly of the television media in the upcoming December elections and ensure fair and equitable use of the electronic media by all the candidates.
(3) America should support a free and independent Taiwan. The hardliners within the KMT want to hand Taiwan over to the Communists through `unification.' The opposition wants a free, democratic, independent Taiwan allied with the West. The KMT wants to keep Taiwan's economy closed. The opposition wants to liberalize trade and open closed sectors of Taiwan's economy for the benefit of all. The KMT operates large, subsidized state and party-owned businesses. The opposition wants to break up ruling party monopolies. The KMT has openly threatened to ban the opposition. The opposition supports the continued existence of the KMT in the Republic of Taiwan as a natural outgrowth of the opposition's democratic principles. The KMT refuses to permit public discussion of independence. The opposition welcomes discussion on every issue.
It is clear which side the U.S. should support. Taiwan independence represents what Robert Scalopino, the noted Asian scholar once called `the happy confluence' of America's values and strategic needs.
(4) America should take the lead in formulating a firm, multilateral policy in East Asia to curb China's territorial appetite. Only a tough policy of alliances, weapons sales, and diplomatic initiatives will keep Chinese troops from the territories of states unlucky enough to share a border with her.
It would seem to be quite a leap from a few squadrons of fighter aircraft to an independent state. But where else can the sale lead? If America furnishes Taiwan with sufficient weapons to keep out of the Chinese grasp, and the majority of Taiwanese support self-determination, then it is only a matter of time before Taiwan becomes a truly independent state. U.S. policy must recognize these simple facts, and act accordingly.
With sale of the F-16s, the time is ripe for a reappraisal of U.S. policy toward Taiwan. America must make the hard choices that forty years of Cold War permitted it to avoid.
It is time to scrap an outmoded and obsolete `One China' policy and replace it with a hard-nosed, no-nonsense policy that recognizes the reality of Taiwanese nationalism and Chinese imperialism.
It is time for open American support for self-determination for the Taiwanese people in an independent, democratic Republic of Taiwan.
Sell the F-16s to Taiwan. But more importantly, make them the basis for new, hard-nosed foreign policy that will guarantee the independence of Taiwan and through that, preserve the peace, security and prosperity of East Asia for peoples everywhere.
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