When a Democracy Topples: China’s Potential Invasion of Taiwan
Written by Story Pennock
Taiwan, situated in the East China Sea, is the artery of both global technology and the American economy. Claiming sovereignty over the territory - perhaps hoping to seize its strategic location - China has been obsessed with Taiwan for decades
“People have the right to determine their political futures rather than be imposed upon”
In 1949, the remnants of China’s Nationalist Kuomintang Party fled from Mao establishing a self governed Republic of China: Taiwan, which became democratized in the 1980s. An important distinction, mainland China is the People’s Republic of China (PROC) which the free world considers separate from Taiwan, the Republic of China (ROC).
Mainland China claims that Taiwan is under their jurisdiction as a territory, however, they have not exercised political or economic influence over Taiwan since 1949, nearly a century. Despite having “similar values, deep commercial and economic links, and strong people-to-people ties (...) [The United States does] not support Taiwan independence (...) [but will] resist any resort to force or other forms of coercion that would jeopardize the security, or the social or economic system, of Taiwan” (Department of State). For decades Beijing has reportedly peacocked their military prowess around Taiwan, however the flexing now appears to be military drills for a potential invasion.
Chinese fighter jets conduct joint combat training exercises around Taiwan.
August 7, 2022 Gong Yulong, CNN.
Perhaps fearful that China will mimic their close ally, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the global eye suspiciously watches Chinese activity in the strait, and the United States girds its loins for war.
Ian Easton, a research fellow at the Project 2049 Institute, recently shared his views on the hypothetical situation of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan in an interview with the Rosebud News. His team researched Chinese military writings, the UN charter, and the US post-war order after World War II to analyze the potential consequences of an invasion.
According to Easton, this conflict matters to every American because “the economic devastation will be beyond anything we've ever seen before in living memory and it will undermine our economy and our freedoms.” A capital intensive resource, losing access to Taiwan’s chips would cost us “trillions of dollars, taking maybe a decade to recover and by that time it would be too late, China would be able to put a thumb on the scale and silence people and potentially control election results in our country.”
Producing over 90% of our chips, Taiwan is “the centralized location of advanced technological supply chains” and essential for the future of the internet; for the internet to remain free and open, it must remain independent. If Taiwan falls into the hands of an authoritarian regime like China, freedom of speech on the internet could be lost. Controlling the internet would enable China’s Central Propaganda Bureau to propagandize all internet platforms. They could sow disinformation, affecting the United States’ elections and citizen-government relations. TikTok exemplifies Beijing's potential abuse of power within the United States: many feel they are waging a cultural war through the app by pushing dangerous content to American youth - such as sex, drugs, and eating disorders - but educational videos and a time limit to Chinese youth (Nash). In fact, an investigation by the Wall Street Journal regarding American tiktok found that it took only 30 minutes for TikTok to push videos promoting eating disorders to a 13 year old user (Wall Street Journal). If China controlled the entire internet, they could push forward dangerous content on every platform, or censor sources that challenge the ROC’s agenda to the last pages of google, if not eliminate them entirely.
Most disconcertingly, “if all of your communications are controlled by an authoritarian country and all of our highest companies are subject to limitless coercion and held hostage, democracy is in a very dangerous position as well.” In the 2020 elections, Russia promoted a slew of disinformation against Joe Biden and China- in control over nearly all technology - could easily follow suit. Voters, falling victim to China’s disinformation, could potentially elect a PROC’s puppet candidate.
Moreover, China's invasion of Taiwan could have a significant impact globally, undermining US alliance networks and potentially leading to a nuclear arms race. Weaker countries could become proxies for China, and other nations may militarize to maintain their sovereignty, resulting in heavy arms racing and potentially leading to World War III. These proxy countries, now dependent on a now ludicrously wealthy Beijing, would take orders from China regarding “who to trade with, who not to trade with, and which electronics to use and which electronics not to use in all of their political infrastructure.” In addition, China and Russia respectively invading Taiwan and the Ukraine disconcerting parallels Hitler’s numerous invasions in the 1930s that the United States not only permitted, but sometimes endorsed, leading to the devastating WWII.
“The more you feed an ambitious, hungry, expansionistic, one party dictatorship, the more they take and it never stops”
Understanding its value as an economic resource and barrier between democracy and totalitarianism, the United States pledged to defend Taiwan’s stability and freedom. Currently, it is “sending special forces and marines to Taiwan to serve as intelligence collectors, liaisons, advisors and increasing surveillance in the region to prepare for other potential invasions.”
The Chinese invasion of Taiwan would have significant consequences not only for Taiwan but also for the United States and the world; Americans can take action as well. So as to not enrich China, Easton recommends that Americans prepare with their government and quarantine Chinese technology, blacklisting “TikTok, Lenovo, IBM, and anything General Electric.” He warns us that “China's government is competing with us in a domain we have never had to fight in and that's the economic and commercial domain. Spend your money on American electronics.” The future of global stability is at stake, and we must act accordingly.
Story Pennock is a college student and co-founder of the Rosebud News. As her name would suggest, she loves telling stories and giving her unsolicited opinion about literature, history, and current events. Her pastimes include going to museums, reading, researching historical fashion, playing guitar, listening to Brit-pop and maintaining her Duo Lingo Italian/Turkish/Portuguese streak (just dont ask her to say anything other than nouns).
Sources Used:
“Analyzing Election Disinformation Efforts.” RAND Corporation, www.rand.org/nsrd/projects/cal-oes.html.
Cheung, Eric, and Brad Lendon. “Chinese Military Stages Large-Scale Military Exercises around Taiwan.” CNN, Cable News Network, 9 Jan. 2023, www.cnn.com/2023/01/09/asia/china-taiwan-combat-drills-intl-hnk-ml/index.html.
“Investigation: How Tiktok's Algorithm Figures out Your Deepest Desires.” The Wall Street Journal, Dow Jones & Company, www.wsj.com/video/series/inside-tiktoks-highly-secretive-algorithm/investigation-how-tiktok-algorithm-figures-out-your-deepest-desires/6C0C2040-FF25-4827-8528-2BD6612E3796?mod=article_inline.
Nash, Ashley. “Is There a Difference between TikTok in the U.S. and China? A Social Media Analyst Compares It to Opium and Spinach.” Deseret News, Deseret News, 24 Nov. 2022, www.deseret.com/2022/11/24/23467181/difference-between-tik-tok-in-china-and-the-us.
“U.S. Relations with Taiwan - United States Department of State.” U.S. Department of State, U.S. Department of State, 28 May 2022, www.state.gov/u-s-relations-with-taiwan/.