One word characterizes decades of United States (U.S.) foreign policy ─ counterproductive. Examine U.S. post-World War II foreign policy and, in addition to the vast killing and destruction visited upon innocent populations, we have an impossible-to-believe number of counterproductive foreign policy decisions.
In Vietnam, the U.S. promoted a war to prevent all of Vietnam from becoming communist and all of Vietnam became communist.
In Cambodia, U.S. engineered the replacement of the Prince Sihanouk government by the Lon Nol government, and soon the extreme Pol Pot controlled Cambodia.
In Iraq, the U.S. overthrow of the Saddam Hussein regime increased Iranian influence in Iraq and led to the development of the ISIS terrorist organization which caused mass violence in the Fertile Crescent.
In Afghanistan, U.S. assistance to Pakistan intelligence enabled the Taliban to gain control and Osama bin Laden to construct his terrorist al-Qaeda organization. Twenty-one years after the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan, the Taliban regained control and international terrorism persisted on several continents.
In the Middle East, decades of U.S. foreign policy have intensified the Israel/Palestinian conflict, ravaged Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Iraq, and brought the Arab world closer to China.
In Somalia, U.S. intervention during a “famine crisis” led to the “Blackhawk Down” incident, retreat of U.S. forces from Somalia, and the formation of the terrorist al-Shabaab organization.
In Libya, U.S. assistance to the ouster of Mohammar al-Gadhafi resulted in a paralyzed Libya, a strengthened radical Islam in Libya, disbursement of Libyan weapons to radical groups throughout North Africa, and an African refugee crisis that uses Libya as a base of operations.
In Ukraine, U.S. backing of the overthrow of Viktor Yanukovych pushed Russia to annex Crimea and support a civil war in the Donbas, which led to the Ukraine/Russian war.
In North Korea, U.S. sanctions against North Korea have propelled North Korean development of nuclear weapons and ballistic missiles.
In Iran, the U.S. leaving the Iran nuclear agreement, sanctions, and pressure on Iran have pushed Iran closer to developing nuclear weapons.
In Nicaragua. the U.S. supported the Contra rebels and forced the 1990 election in which the Nicaragua Sandinista government, led by Daniel Ortega, lost to Violeta Chamorro. In June 2023, the same Daniel Ortega rules Nicaragua and is more totalitarian than before.
In Cuba, after Castro nationalized the US-owned Cuban oil refineries without compensation, the U.S. extended an embargo, except for food and medicine, on exports to Cuba. Sixty-five years later, an embargo remains, the US-owned oil refinery companies in Cuba have not received compensation, the Cuban people continue suffering from the embargo, and the revolutionary government retains power.
In the South China Sea, the U.S. has aggressively contested China’s claims to islands that barely reach above sea level. The Diplomat reports that China has occupied the Paracel Islands. has structures on six Spratly Islands, and other nations have occupied 36 islands in that archipelago. Business Insider adds some interesting details. “In recent years, China has turned some features it controls into fully developed artificial islands, adding over 3,200 acres of land to them, constructing ports, airstrips, bunkers, radars, and jamming stations, and deploying advanced anti-ship and anti-aircraft missiles.” U.S. interference in the South Sea China dispute has not stopped China from extending its authority and the fear of U.S. military intervention in the area has prompted China to create artificial islands and erect fortifications. An unusual aspect: China has signed and ratified the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea, while the US has signed but never ratified it.
Many more foreign policy failures, some of which can be summed up by:
In its war on international terrorism, the U.S. has succeeded in exploding the presence of al-Qaeda “look-alikes” in several nations in Africa.
In its war on drugs, the U.S. has not diminished drugs in its territory and permitted criminal sub-states to develop in Mexico and Central American nations.
In its promotion of human rights and democracy, the U.S. has failed to protect human rights in many countries in which it has friendly relations and has not impeded the trend to the establishment of extreme rightwing and totalitarian regimes throughout the world.
The U.S. ever-existing counterproductive strategy will apply to Taiwan, and assuredly, U.S. policy, together with other factors, will have Taiwan join its mother country, China.
The people of the ROC and PRC are one people.
The official name for the isle of Formosa (beautiful island), known as Taiwan, is the Republic of China (ROC). The mainland is officially known as the Peoples Republic of China (PRC). For decades, each of the leaders of the two Chinas claimed to be the legitimate ruler of China. The elected ROC presidents no longer claim that position.
The Taiwanese, who arrived in Formosa during several centuries, are not similar to immigrants who journey to a foreign land where citizens speak another language and breathe another culture. They are not immigrants who, in one generation, lose contact with their heritage and adopt the traits of the new land; they have not changed from being Chinese in their twenty-mile journey from the mainland nor gone to a foreign country. From a people’s perspective, the great majority of both nations are one people — Han by descent, speak a common language, Mandarin, have a common ancient history, enjoy the same culture, prepare the same foods, and have the same ethics. There may be some subtle differences and distinctive localized traits but the Chinese of the ROC are the same people as the Chinese of the PRC.
The Qing dynasty of China annexed the island of Formosa in 1683 and waves of immigration by mainland Chinese and Chiang Kai-shek’s 1949 Kuomintang, which ruled the island from 1949 to 1997, forced the mainland China culture to be the Taiwan culture. Taiwan is more Chinese than Hong Kong, which is firmly attached to China. The former British colony never spoke Mandarin, and many of the Hong Kongese retain some of the British traits in food, language, architecture, and habits.
True that a great majority of Taiwanese do not want the island to be incorporated into the mainland. Rapid industrialization and economic growth invigorated Taiwan’s people into believing that going separate is the preferred strategy. In effect, few of the present generation realize that the original Chinese in Taiwan never adhered to accommodating the Kuomintang and their separation from mainland China. Through 40 years of martial law, and 75 years of indoctrination, propaganda, and revision of the education system, the Taiwanese governments modified the island’s newer Chinese generations to believe they had a different conscience and a different pursuit than their mainland cohorts.
True that the PRC wants Taiwan to become an integral part of China, and for valid reasons.
Historically, Taiwan is legally part of China.
The U.S. is coaxing an independent Taiwan into a base for U.S. military forces, which rightfully disturbs China.
Taiwan was separated from the mainland by an invading army and not by the native Chinese.
News reports have a predatory China trying to take advantage of every opportunity to pounce upon Taiwan and forcibly annex the Island to the PRC. History does not validate that hypothesis.
After 75 years, the established Peoples Republic of China has done nothing overly aggressive to bring the Republic of China into its possession, which they could have done at any time in the last twenty years. Few nations in the world would have waited to reclaim their territories. Look at the record of hypocrisy.
Britain did wait long to send its military to remove Argentina from the “liberated” Falkland Islands.
Putin took immediate advantage of the havoc in Ukraine to seize “Russian” Crimea.
Azerbaijan continually incorporates disputed Nagorno-Karabakh land into its territory.
India does not permit Muslim Kashmir to secede.
Spain does not permit Vizcaya or Catalonia to secede.
Italy does not permit Sardinia to secede.
Bosnia does not permit Serbian Srpska its freedom.
Using the excuse of Panamanian President Manuel Antonio Noriega’s involvement in drug trafficking, money laundering, and racketeering, U.S. President George H.W. Bush invaded Panama. According to official estimates, “about 300 Panamanian soldiers and 214 civilians were killed during the invasion, while the U.S. military reported 23 deaths among its troops.” Compare the U.S. uncalled-for and hysterical action (shall we also include U.S. invasions of the Dominican Republic, Dominica, Guatemala, and other excursions into Latin American life) with China’s 75 years of patience and non-military action.
The two lands are commercially tied.
Although U.S. policies, such as increased tariffs on imports from China, have pressured Taiwan to reduce its investments in China, the two lands have mutual interests in trade and investment. “Between 1991 and the end of December 2021, Taiwan's investment in China totaled $198.28 billion.” In 2021, China was, by far, ROC’s largest trading partner, with $273.06 billion of goods crossing the straits between the two nations. “Mainland China and Hong Kong accounted for 42% of Taiwan’s exports last year, while the U.S. had a 15% share.”
Many large Taiwanese companies operate factories in mainland China, some in high-tech industries, such as the world’s largest chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. {TSMC).
Uncertainty as to where Taiwan will finally declare its loyalty and unknown responses from the PRC and the United States to that choice creates confusion for TSMC; will it be caught in a global political war and lose the Western or Chinese market? Playing it cautious, TSMC is taking advantage of America’s CHIPS and Science Act, which provides $280 billion to fund semiconductor manufacturing inside the United States, and has increased funding from $12 billion to $40 billion to expand facilities being constructed in North Phoenix, Arizona.
Considered one of the best-managed companies in the world, TSMC has been criticized for its large-sized business venture in the United States. Doesn’t it fear the Taiwan issue will escalate and it will be drawn more deeply into the battle? Is its expansion in the U.S. increasing tensions between the two economic giants? An article, Inside Taiwanese Chip Giant, a U.S. Expansion Stokes Tensions, New York Times, Feb. 22, 2023, by John Liu and Paul Mozur, describes the dilemmas TSMC faces in its perplexing endeavor. “The plant’s construction cost is ten times more than it would have cost in Taiwan,” and, according to Wayne Chiu—an engineer who left TSMC in 2022 ─ “The most difficult thing about wafer manufacturing is not technology; the most difficult thing is personnel management. Americans are the worst at this because Americans are the most difficult to manage.”
Confucianism
Confucianism is playing a stronger role in the culture of the mainland Chinese. Previously rejected by the Communist Party, the philosopher’s concept of how to achieve a harmonious society appeals to Xi Jinping. Confucious also thrives in Taiwan. Nicholas Clark, a Georgetown University graduate, with a major in Chinese and a minor in business administration, participated in the Junior Year Abroad Network while studying in Taipei, Taiwan during the fall of 2013. His observations are expressed in an article, Everyday Confucianism in Taiwan.
Regardless of what Confucius actually did or the details of the philosophy attributed to him, "Confucianism” represents something deeply personal to Taiwanese people and deeply ingrained in Taiwanese culture. In Taiwanese culture, I have observed that Confucianism represents an attitude of appreciation, respect, mutual understanding, and studiousness, and this attitude is the basis of a value system that influences almost every aspect of Taiwanese life.
Confucian values — benevolence, righteousness, propriety, wisdom, and fidelity serve to unite the Chinese people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
United States counterproductive policies in Taiwan
Despite the legality of the situation and the common interests of the Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, a poll by the Pew Research Center shows that by a “nearly two-to-one margin, people in Taiwan rate the U.S. more favorably than mainland China.”
Each time that the U.S. presents itself as a defender of Taiwan’s interests, the U.S. provokes the PRC and strengthens the PRC’s resolve to have Taiwan incorporated into China. A silent and hardly pursued issue becomes alive to both the PRC and ROC peoples. Mainland China increases its military capability and island China is forced to devote resources to military expenditures.
It is obvious to the Taiwanese that China has no inclination to sacrifice its soldiers and Chinese citizens in Taiwan by invading the island. It is obvious to the Taiwanese that if China wanted to invade, they could not stop the invasion and the U.S. would not risk total war by confronting the Chinese military. Evidently, U.S. strategists believe the Taiwanese are dull of mind, that they do not realize that the U.S. is using them as an excuse to challenge China and as potential cannon fodder in case of an all-out war between the two most powerful nations. The hypocritical defenses of Taiwan's independence assuredly disturb the mass of intelligent and well-educated Taiwanese, who can observe that the U.S. does nothing to defend the Palestinians, defend the Royhinga, and other oppressed peoples in areas where the U.S. has clout and can assist. Although it has no leverage with China, is not affected by Taiwan’s status, and has no oppression of Taiwanese oppression to counter, the U.S. devotes huge economic and political capital in rescuing Taiwan from sinister forces.
Recent maneuvers of the U.S. and Canada in the Taiwan Straits are an example of a planned incitement. The North American ships, which have no reason to execute maneuvers in the Taiwan Straits, linger there, wait for a Chinese vessel to travel its normal excursion through its own body of water, and then accuse the Chinese vessel of provocative and dangerous actions by “almost colliding” with one of the innocent North American ships.
Relations between the PRC and ROC are determined by one condition ─ the PRC does not want Taiwan to have foreign relations. It is willing to have Taiwan operate as an independent body but not as an independent nation.
If Taiwan functions in a manner that the PRC respects, then the status quo will remain. The ever-interfering U.S. will not allow that to happen; Washington sends State Department officials to meet with Taiwan government officials and invites the Taiwan president to Washington. The U.S. intends to continually raise the ante and will provoke and provoke; Beijing will call the bluff and respond and respond. After each ante raise, China’s ships and aircraft will move closer and closer to Taiwan and then one day, the planes and ships will unload. Chinese troops will be on Taiwan and the Taiwanese will be citizens of the Peoples Republic of China.