Straight News: Mr. Liu, what do you think about the Biden administration's invitation to 110 countries and regions around the world to participate in the global "Democracy Summit"?
Special Commentator Liu Heping: I can make a few brief basic judgments on this matter - the first basic judgment is that in the past two decades or so, because the Us strategy of promoting Western-style democracy in Afghanistan and Iraq has ended in failure, a trend of thinking has emerged in the United States to reflect on the US diplomatic strategy, that is, to give up the promotion of US ideology and values around the world, and even to abandon the US world responsibility and no longer be the world policeman. This trend of thought reached its peak during the Trump administration, and Trump publicly announced that the United States would no longer change the political systems and ideologies of other countries. The convening of this so-called global "democratic summit" means that the United States, which is full of ideological and confrontational thinking, has returned, and the Ambition of the United States to rule the world with Western ideologies and values has re-emerged.
The second basic judgment is that we know that during the old Cold War, differences in ideology, values and political systems once tore the entire human race in half, dividing the earth into two hemispheres, east and west. The Biden administration's convening of this so-called global "democracy summit" means that Western forces with distinct ideological characteristics have begun to regroup, and those countries and regions that have not received invitations have been infiltrated into another camp by the United States. I believe that the Biden administration's practice of co-opting the majority and isolating the minority may further expand the so-called "new cold war against China" that some US hawks clamor for into a global "new cold war." We must be vigilant against the recurrence of the past split phenomenon of "things gathering people in groups".
Straight News: What do you do about the US side's invitation to Taiwan to participate in the global "democracy summit" but its refusal to allow Tsai Ing-wen herself to attend the meeting in person only to allow the participation of Xiao Meiqin, the liaison of the Taiwan authorities in the United States?
Special Commentator Liu Heping: I think that the Biden administration's invitation to Taiwan to participate in the so-called global "democracy summit" is obviously to ideologize the issue of "independence" of China's cross-strait reunification. Because the issue of reunification and independence of Taiwan belongs to China's sovereignty and internal affairs, the United States' intervention is not justified, and once the Taiwan issue is ideologicalized, the United States can intervene under the guise of so-called human rights above sovereignty; second, to internationalize the Taiwan issue, the purpose of which is to bring Taiwan into the Western ideological camp and ultimately achieve the goal of getting all Western camps to support Taiwan.
In my opinion, the Biden administration ultimately refused to participate in Tsai Ing-wen, who was full of joy and wanted to appear as the so-called leader at the global "democracy summit", and only let Xiao Meiqin, the representative to the United States, and others attend on behalf of him, not only to take into account the face of the Chinese mainland and reduce the sensitivity of this matter, but more importantly, such an arrangement is in line with the strategic goal and general direction of the United States trying to ideologize the Taiwan issue, and if Tsai Ing-wen herself is present, it is bound to trigger a greater backlash Chinese mainland. This has led to a new crisis in the Taiwan Strait and brought the issue of cross-strait sovereignty and reunification "independence" to the surface again, thus diluting the real purpose of the United States in trying to ideologize the Taiwan issue. In fact, such a practice has once again revealed the real purpose and strategic bottom card of the Biden administration in the Taiwan Strait strategy, that is, the real purpose of the United States in supporting the Tsai Ing-wen authorities is not for "Taiwan independence," but for the realization of its own ideological and strategic goals, and it is not hesitant to regard Taiwan as a bridgehead for the new ideological Cold War. In other words, both the "Taiwan independence" forces and the Tsai Ing-wen administration are merely tools to serve the grand strategy of US ideology.
Straight News: The US "Foreign Policy" magazine revealed that in the past month or so, the Biden administration has increased the number of so-called US troops stationed in Taiwan to 40, almost double last year. What do you think about that?
Special Commentator Liu Heping: I believe that no matter how many or few military personnel the Biden administration sends to Taiwan, it violates the three joint communiques on the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States and should be condemned. But at the same time, it is necessary to clarify a concept, that is, what is "US troops stationed in Taiwan". As we all know, the UNITED States stationed in other countries and regions, as well as the US military stationed in Taiwan more than forty years ago, have several common characteristics: first, the two sides have signed a formal agreement on garrisoning troops; second, the number of people stationed is very large, at least in groups or divisions; third, it has its own separate military station in the local area; and fourth, it raises the US flag and the US military flag at the military base every day. Only by meeting these basic elements can it be regarded as a real US foreign military presence.
However, even if the information disclosed by Foreign Policy magazine is true, the Biden administration has increased the number of soldiers sent to Taiwan from more than twenty to more than forty earlier, which is far from meeting the basic requirements of "US troops stationed in Taiwan.". These 40 or so servicemen who cannot form an organizational structure have sprinkled pepper noodles like pepper noodles on the taiwan military's military barracks in various places, and at best they can only be regarded as the US military quietly "helping Taiwan" instead of "stationing in Taiwan," that is, secretly helping the Taiwan military to engage in some daily training. That is to say, there is an essential difference between "US troops stationed in Taiwan" and "US troops assisting Taiwan"; the former violates China's "Anti-Secession Law" and will cause war, while the latter can only be regarded as unruly provocations. Of course, we must also see that after the White House official took the initiative to reveal to the Wall Street Journal the news that there are US soldiers in Taiwan not long ago, the US "Foreign Policy" magazine once again revealed to the outside world that the US military has recently sent more manpower, which is obviously the Biden administration is deliberately "playing the Taiwan card" and "playing the anti-China card." In my opinion, the main purpose of the Biden administration's "playing the Taiwan card" and "playing the anti-China card" is not to stimulate the Chinese mainland, but to meet the needs of the domestic political struggle in the United States. Because in the case of a hasty withdrawal from Afghanistan that has attracted a lot of public opinion and high domestic inflation has led to a boiling of public resentment, the Biden administration wants to play this card to divert domestic attention and raise nationalist sentiment at home. Otherwise, in the upcoming midterm elections and the presidential election a few years later, Biden's election with the Democratic Party will be cool.
The author 丨 Liu Heping, special commentator of Shenzhen Satellite TV's "Live Broadcasting hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan"