“It’s still been going on for 70 years,” added the president of the Solidarité Chine association, Monday on franceinfo, after the military maneuvers carried out by China around Taiwan for three days.
“If the Taiwanese were not phlegmatic, they could not live under such a threat”underlined on Monday April 10 on franceinfo the sinologist Marie Holzman, specialist in contemporary China, president of the association Solidarité Chine, whose mission is to promote democratic openness in China, after the military maneuvers carried out by China around Taiwan, circling the island for three days. “It’s still been 70 years that it lasts”, emphasizes Marie Holzman. She believes that “The Chinese are very irritated to see that the profile of Taiwan continues to rise” in its international relations. But if the island has “American Support”must take “words” from China “very seriously”.
>> Taiwan: what is China trying to do by simulating a military “closure” of the island?
franceinfo: Are the people of Taiwan right not to worry about Chinese maneuvers?
Mary Holzmann: It is true that the character of the Taiwanese is quite surprising. But it’s still been going on for 70 years. Since 1949, the Chinese government has always told Taiwan, we want Taiwan back. And in the time of Chiang Kai-shek, Chiang Kai-shek was saying the same thing on the other side. He was a refugee in Taiwan, but he kept saying, we’re going to take back China. So, it’s true, the Taiwanese have always lived with this threat over their heads. From the 2000s, we learned every year that 100 missiles were aimed at China from the coasts of Fujian. You should know that the first Chinese islands are located a few kilometers from the coast. It is very close. And the strait is only 180 kilometers long, which isn’t very far either. And then the next year it was 200 missiles, then 500. And when they got to 1,000, they stopped giving numbers. So now it’s unclear how many missiles are permanently aimed at Taiwan. But if the Taiwanese were not phlegmatic, they could not live under such a threat.
What did China want to do after these military operations? Is this retaliation for the meeting that took place between the United States and the Taiwanese president or does this ultimately prefigure a real attack?
They are both. Last summer, during the visit of Nancy Pelosi, the predecessor of Kevin McCarty (Speaker of the United States House of Representatives), whom President Tsai Ing-wen met in California a few weeks ago, it was the same thing. It was even worse last summer. The encirclements, the false missile firings, were terrible for three days. And there, this time, it was announced: three days of encirclement of the island. They did the three days and they left. I think the Chinese are very irritated that Taiwan’s profile keeps rising. In Paris, for example, we would never have said ‘Mr. Ambassador’ to Mr. Wu, who is the current Taiwanese ambassador in Paris, because we feared China’s anger. Now, McCarty, California, has received the president of Taiwan. That either, we would not have said. That is to say, now, finally, after 70 years, the world recognizes that Taiwan is a country like any other, practically. In any case, it has a president, a flag, a currency. It makes him a country. And that, the Chinese do not support it.
>> Military operation around Taiwan: “We must take Beijing’s threats seriously”, warns a China specialist
Does Taiwan have the means to defend itself?
Taiwan has very sophisticated means in anti-aircraft defense, submarine systems which can also detect the approach of Chinese submarines. And they have the support of the Americans. The Americans have created around Taiwan a gathering of great powers, South Korea, Japan and Australia. All say they are on the same level with Taiwan. If ever China attacks, all these countries will come to the rescue. And besides, the Americans sent a destroyer which criss-crossed not far from Taiwan. It was an opportunity for the Americans to see how the Chinese behaved. They had an in vivo demonstration of Chinese attack techniques. But it was also a way of saying, ‘careful, don’t touch Taiwan, otherwise we will intervene’. But the Chinese government said, ‘we will be able to reclaim Taiwan by force if necessary, around 2026 or 2027’. So you have to take these words very seriously.