The effort to indoctrinate Anthony Hartsook confirms that the Chinese Communist Party is willing to regard even lowly state legislators as worthy targets of its propaganda and influence operations.
On October 10, 2024, Hartsook, a Colorado state representative, attended a celebration of the Republic of China’s National Day at the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Denver. He spoke on the occasion.
China is displeased
Next thing he knew, he was getting badgered by an undiplomatic diplomatic representative the People’s Republic of China, who called him to express “ ‘displeasure’ with my speech and attendance of the Taipei Economic and Cultural Office event” (“The Chinese Communist Party won’t deter me from supporting Taiwan,” The Denver Gazette, November 9, 2024).
The CCP lackey enjoined Hartsook (shown above) to adhere to the Party’s one-China doctrine, according to which the ROC is not an independent country but, despite its apparent independence, really a part of the PRC. The Party minion also wanted to schedule an education session with Hartsook so that the state representative could be set straight.
Hartsook says that he did not appreciate the lecture.
“The CCP is sadly mistaken if it thinks I will acquiesce to their demands or viewpoint…. The PRC wants to control Taiwan for its strategic importance, which has absolutely nothing to do with historical or cultural reasons.”
Does Hartsook mean to suggest here that the PRC’s desire to control Taiwan is not at all motivated by considerations of history and culture? I am sure that these do play a part in the desire to grab Taiwan; the civil war wasn’t that long ago. More than one motive can be relevant in the pursuit of a goal.
This isn’t to say that the CCP’s specific historical or cultural propagandistic claims must be correct. Hartsook is right, for example, that “Taiwan is not, and never has been, a part of the PRC.”
What if
But we tend to give too much weight to this fact.
What if the mainland had conquered the ROC forty years ago and attached Taiwan and the other islands to itself; and then, ten or 15 years later, the Republic of China had managed to escape the grip of the mainland and reestablish its independence? In this alternate history, would the People’s Republic of China now be better justified in acting to deprive the Taiwanese of their liberty?
The PRC has no warrant for depriving any people inside or outside of China of their liberty.
