Taiwan: Intensifying imperial conflict to resist nationalism

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International Socialist Road (Taiwan)

In 2021, especially since the second half of the year, the Tsai government has significantly more aggressively responded to the CCP’s political and military intimidation, relying on the increasingly active and open intervention of U.S. imperialism in the Indo-Pacific region, and more vigorously using the banner of “anti-China protection against Taiwan” to incite Taiwanese nationalism. . The DPP's strategy is to use Taiwan's national unity to spur support for this year's nine-in-one election and suppress class struggle. This is not unique to Taiwan. The Chinese Communist Party and governments around the world are increasingly exploiting nationalism. After Xi Jinping delivered a New Year's Day speech saying that "unification is the wish of compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait", Tsai Ing-wen hurriedly revised the script of the speech before taking the stage on New Year's Day to increase the length of the cross-strait situation, and warned the CCP to "do not misjudge the situation." The so-called situation is obviously a warning to Xi Jinping not to underestimate the strength of US imperialism's aid to Taiwan. This is also the first time that Tsai Ing-wen's speech has replaced "Republic of China" with "Taiwan" in full text, strengthening the so-called "identity".

Imperialist conflict heats up

After Biden took office, the geopolitical struggle policy in the Indo-Pacific region has become more comprehensive and consistent. First, the Trump administration's Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) has been continued, and the so-called "Asian version of NATO" has been renewed and advocated for the Australia-UK-US Alliance (AUKUS). . Taiwan has also set up a representative office in Lithuania, continuing last year's practice of wooing Eastern European countries under the drive of the United States.

The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China will be held this fall, coupled with the grim domestic economy that has put the CCP in a difficult position, and wanting to avoid diplomatic conflicts that disrupt the upcoming Winter Olympics, Xi Jinping faces pressure from the CCP’s hostile factions and capitalists to reduce his involvement in China. economic destruction. Therefore, since the end of last year, I have wanted to cool down the Sino-US conflict a little bit. For example, in the face of the exposure of the US military stationed in Taiwan for training for more than a year, he only responded in a low-key manner, and he also showed his goodwill to the United States when Xi Bai had a phone call. Of course, the temporary adjustment of strategy will not bring about changes in specific policies. It is foreseeable that the Sino-US conflict will continue to heat up in general, because power and political survival are at stake, and neither side can make concessions. Xi Jinping is not allowed to make major concessions and show weakness in imperial conflict, as this would undermine his nationalist authority and even threaten his power within a dictatorship.

Last year, the conflict in the Taiwan Strait also reached an unprecedented level. The number of PLA planes crossing the Taiwan Strait and entering the Western Pacific broke a record of nearly 1,000 sorties, more than double the number in 2019 and 2020. These numbers will continue to increase this year. In addition, in November last year, the CCP punished the pro-KMT group Far East's factories in China by 2 billion Taiwan dollars, because the Far East was exposed by the media and a huge amount of money was provided to the DPP. It can be expected that after Xi Jinping is re-elected at the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, because he wants to consolidate his power to different factions of the CCP, he will take tough actions against Taiwan in order to show his authority.

With Xi Jinping playing the role of the bully in the script, the Tsai government is indeed quite effective in inciting Taiwanese nationalism. According to a recent poll by CommonWealth Magazine, 60% of the respondents identify as Taiwanese, and more than 70% are under the age of 40. . More than half of those under 40 support independence. This paradoxically makes the Taiwanese people's awareness of the crisis of cross-strait conflict low. More than half of Taiwanese believe that China will not reunify Taiwan by force, and more than 60% are not worried about a war in the Taiwan Strait. At the same time, the illusion of militarization is also increasing, and 70% of the respondents believe that the conscription system needs to be restored.

Although pro-American fantasies are on the rise, the same poll shows that most people in Taiwan do not trust Xi Jinping and Biden, but the proportion of people who do not trust Xi Jinping is higher than Biden. Although most people think that Taiwan should not take sides, the younger you are, the more pro-American. Marxists certainly support Taiwan's right to national self-determination, but this will not be achieved in the presence of Chinese and American imperialism. Instead, it is necessary to establish an independent internationalist labor movement against all imperialist and capitalist camps, otherwise the national consciousness will only Become a bargaining chip for one of the rulers.

Nationalist capital is bound to run out

Epidemic panic and the infestation of nationalism temporarily suppressed the mass struggle, and in the context of a huge political vacuum, the blue-green fight took over the political arena. The Green Camp can breathe a sigh of relief in the four referendums and the two-seat by-election/recall case. The main reason is that the referendum and related protest movements challenging the DPP government were hijacked by the Blue Camp. For example, the organizers of the Qiudou wrongly allowed the KMT to participate. Make the people hate their support as a bargaining chip for the blue-green or any capitalist party, thus appear indifferent to the movement, and produce favorable results for the government. The turnout this time was only about 40% (lower than the 2018 referendum of more than 50%), and the majority of voters were blue-green conservative voters. It is a pity that the mass movement lacked a fighting force independent of blue and green and missed an opportunity, but the political vacuum is huge under the economic and social crisis, and the government is still unstable.

Another lesson from the movement is that the Tsai government consciously used the Sino-US conflict to rationalize policies that harmed the interests of the people: "In order to please the US against China and protect Taiwan, we must sacrifice." For example, promoting the strategic significance of TSMC in the new Cold War to rationalize the three connections; promoting the import of pigs and nuclear food in order to bring the United States and Japan closer. The Sino-US conflict is certainly a conflict between the ruling classes, but in the final analysis it is the struggle of the ruling class against the working class, sacrificing the social and people's livelihood of the majority in order to maintain the decadent rule. Geopolitical struggles complicate class struggles, and it is an urgent task to build a workers' party that is independent of blue-green and Chinese and American imperialism.