Winton Dong

    dht620@sina.com

    THE 1992 Consensus, which was reached between the mainland’s Association for Relations Across the Taiwan Strait and the island’s Strait Exchange Foundation, declares that the mainland and Taiwan are both parts of one China.

    Such a consensus is regarded as the cornerstone for cross-Strait relations. However, Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen and U.S. President-elect Donald Trump have multiple times now used cross-Strait ties as a special card to challenge the one-China policy.

    On Dec. 2, 2016, Trump had a telephone conversation with Taiwan leader Tsai, which broke a decades-old U.S. diplomatic protocol and cast shadow on its one-China stance. According to a recent Wall Street Journal report, Taiwanese authorities paid U.S. republican Bob Dole and his law firm Alston & Bird a total of US$140,000 for arranging such a telephone conversation. On Dec. 10, 2016, Trump again said in an interview with Fox News that the U.S. does not necessarily have to be bound by the one-China policy, challenging the Sino-American consensus, which the two countries have abided by for almost four decades.

    If someone is threatening China outside our front door, should we not get ready with a slingshot at the very least? As an independent country, China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity should be fully respected. However, action speaks louder than eloquence. Sometimes we need decisive action and even blood and life to win and safeguard such respect.

    Antagonized by these provocative words on the Taiwan question and persistent U.S. close-up surveillance and military surveys within Chinese waters, a Chinese vessel retrieved a U.S. underwater drone in the South China Sea on Dec. 15, 2016 and later transferred it to the U.S. side after peaceful negotiation. “China has always resolutely opposed and demanded that the U.S. halt these activities, which have posed great danger to our sovereignty and national security,” said Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying.

    Meanwhile, according to a navy report, China has recently carried out the first live-fire exercise for its aircraft carrier Liaoning battle group in the Bohai Sea. The Liaoning performed various drills with several destroyers and frigates, involving scenarios such as reconnaissance, aircraft interception, sea strikes as well as missile defense. Such an exercise is really a landmark for the carrier battle group. It means the group’s vessels and aircraft have achieved not only a high level of integration but also are closer to gaining combat readiness. After the drill in the Bohai Sea, the Liaoning further broke through the first island chain to have a routine exercise in the South China Sea around the New Year. While returning from the drill in the South China Sea, the Liaoning sailed north to enter international waterway of the Taiwan Strait on Jan. 11.

    To be honest, one aircraft carrier is not enough for a big country like China to protect its waters. The United States now boasts more than 10 aircraft carriers in service. As for the South China Sea, besides the Ronald Reagon and John Stennis which have been deployed there for quite a long time, a third one, Carl Vinson left San Diego on Jan. 4 and is on the way to the disputed waters as backup.

    The Chinese Air Force has also carried out combat-ready patrols above the East China Sea and South China Sea, and long-distance training operations. “These patrols are lawful and reasonable and will continue as scheduled,” said Air Force Spokesman Senior Colonel Shen Jike. The spokesman made the remarks in response to foreign media reports that the PLA Air Force performed regular drills near Taiwan and flew over the South China Sea, Bashi Channel and Miyako Strait in recent days.

    Besides the actions taken by the Chinese air and navy forces, China has also resumed diplomatic ties with Sao Tome and Principe on Dec. 26, 2016, after the African nation cut ties with Taiwan. According to experts, such a move is a clear warning to Taipei of a possible flood of breaks with its “diplomatic allies.”

    At present, Taiwan has “diplomatic ties” with 21 countries, mainly small and island nations in Latin America, Africa and Oceania that depend on Taiwan’s economic assistance. Frankly speaking, Beijing is very prudent in dealing with the resumption of diplomatic ties with former allies of Taipei. However, if the tension between the mainland and Taiwan escalates, such an outcome is inevitable. “There is an irresistible trend that Taiwan’s allies now hope to establish diplomatic relations with the mainland because it is in accordance with their political and economic interests,” said Sheng Jiuyuan, a researcher from Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences.

    Any attempt to separate Taiwan from China is doomed to end in failure. With Trump’s inauguration ceremony drawing near, it seems that he has also come to the realization that he will gain nothing by using Taiwan as a special card to irritate China. Tsai paid a visit to Honduras, Nicaragua, Guatemala and El Salvador from Jan. 7 to 15 this year. She transferred in Houston and San Francisco on her way to and from the four Latin American nations. Tsai’s main goal was to meet with Trump or members of his transition team ahead of her trip. However, a statement made by Jessica Ditto, a spokeswoman of Trump’s transition team, dampened her hope by refusing any meeting of this kind during Tsai’s stopovers in the United States.

    (The author is the editor-in-chief of the Shenzhen Daily and guest professor of Shenzhen University with a Ph.D. from the Journalism and Communication School of Wuhan University.)