Recalling what Mao once said about Taiwan long before the end of China’s civil war does not very convincing counter what Xi Jinping is now saying about Taiwan. But in a piece for Taipei Times, Gerrit van der Wees gives it a shot (“Best way to avoid war is to not be phased by Xi,” December 29, 2023):
The threatening posture [toward Taiwan] was made clear when on Tuesday, during a speech to commemorate the 130th anniversary of Mao Zedong’s birth, Chinese President Xi Jinping said he would “resolutely prevent anyone from splitting Taiwan from China in any way,” and that “the motherland must be reunified, and inevitably will be reunified.”
Xi forgets to mention that Mao earlier in life had advocated for Taiwan’s independence. In Red Star Over China, US writer Edgar Snow quoted Mao in 1937 as saying: “We will extend them [the Koreans] our enthusiastic help in their struggle for independence. The same thing applies for Taiwan.”
Xi also seems to forget that Taiwan has not been a part of China for more than a century and prior to that, China’s claim was dubious at best.
If Mao intimated in 1937 that Taiwan should be independent, he didn’t hold himself to this remark later on. Also, Xi is not forgetting anything about the history of Taiwan’s relationship to the mainland. He doesn’t care. The dictator cannot go from one clause to the next when talking about Taiwan without contradicting himself, which is the same procedure followed by his diplomats. If Taiwan were not already split from China, why would he think it necessary that China and Taiwan be unified? But he and other propagandists for the Chinese Communist Party adhere to the dictums that resolute repetition makes truth and might makes right.
Less subject to caviling are the author’s statements that Taiwan should not try to appease China’s irrational demands and that “it is essential to maintain a steady course, remain firm on principles of democracy and human rights, and build alliances with like-minded countries.”
