At Least Someone is Standing Up For Taiwan
Unfortunately, It's Not the Viceroy
There are probably two reasons (at least) why the Chinese Communist Party hasn’t actually attempted to conquer Taiwan, the island democracy that was once part of Nationalist China.1 The first is that they aren’t ready - and if they thought they were prior to Vladimir Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, events there have almost certainly given them pause. It’s the second reason that made itself known - again - in a manner the CCP did not want to hear: Japan will not tolerate such an invasion.
In the summer of 2021, as Putin was prepping his invasion and Ukraine’s NATO allies were wondering what to do about it, Japan’s Deputy Prime Minister made it abundantly clear what his country would have in mind (Reuters).
“If a major problem took place in Taiwan, it would not be too much to say that it could relate to a survival-threatening situation (for Japan),” Japan’s deputy prime minister Taro Aso said at a fundraising party by a fellow Liberal Democratic Party lawmaker, according to Kyodo.
Under Japan’s post-World-War-II constitution, any use of military force must be for self-defense only. So, anytime a Japanese pol refers to “a survival-threatening situation,” they mean; we’ll really have to deploy troops to stop this.
At the time, Aso’s words were ambiguous enough that the ensuring diplomatic kerfuffle was small. However, it ensured that Zhongnanhai had one disadvantage the Kremlin never had (and still doesn’t have): an ally of the target openly musing about intervening militarily.
Fast forward to the present and Japan’s current PM is singing Aso’s old tune (Globe and Mail):
Speaking to lawmakers last week, Ms. Takaichi – who wants to increase military spending and amend Japan’s post-World War II pacifist constitution – warned an attack by China against Taiwan could “constitute a situation threatening Japan’s survival.” That is the current bar for the Japanese military to intervene in an ostensibly foreign conflict.
Sanae Takaichi was already well known to the CCP - and well disliked. After this, the regime added a flood of insults to the frostiness. I mention this because making the CCP uncomfortable should be a requirement of every democratic leader - and I make sure to note which ones are actually clearing the bar.
More to the point, the Japanese PM is reminding us what it’s like when someone stands up for Taiwan against their would-be enslavers.
I get the instinct of so many in the American opposition to look to Europe for an alternative “leader of the free world” - the Viceroy certainly can’t take that role even if he wanted it, which he clearly doesn’t. I humbly submit Ms. Takaichi for that role. She has shown - once again - that Japan is much more willing to stand up to tyrants than anyone in Western Europe, let alone Washington.
While neither the CCP nor any Taiwanese government have ever claimed de jure separation, the fact remains that the Communist regime has never governed one square foot of Taiwanese territory.