January 2, 2004

In an article published on December 29, 2003 by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution entitled "Taiwan wise not to ignore China's sword", TECO-Atlanta Information Division Director Alice Wang defended President Chen's plans for a referendum demanding the removal of missiles aimed at Taiwan from along China's southeastern coast.

Director Wang began her article by recounting a familiar Taiwanese folktale concerning a weapons vendor who offers for sale both a sword that can pierce any shield and a shield that can withstand the thrust of any sword. Obviously, there is a fallacy in the vendor's claims about his merchandise; it is logically impossible that both of his assertions are true. Director Wang points out a similar fallacy in the reaction of China when Beijing, with 496 missiles targeting Taiwan arrayed along its coastline, argues that President Chen's proposed referendum constitutes a provocation by Taiwan. After pointing out that President Chen put the referendum process into motion only to defend Taiwan's peace and security, Director Wang writes, "Unfortunately, Chen's actions were interpreted by Chinese officials as provocative. But their response begs the question, "Who can say that Taiwan cannot prepare a shield when China is so obviously sharpening its sword? It would be illogical to say that a person donning a bulletproof vest is being provocative when his enemy is aiming a gun at him."

Director Wang mentions interviews Chen gave to CNN and The New York Times in which he made it clear that the referendum was meant to call upon China to remove the missiles and to renounce the use of force against Taiwan, not to address unification or independence issues. She also recalls that The Washington Post, in a December 10th editorial, noted that the referendum only concerned the ballot box and posed no threat to China.

Director Wang concludes her article with concerns about the "potentially disastrous misperception" of the Chinese leadership about the referendum. She acknowledges that the "highly sensitive" issues between Taiwan and China will not be resolved overnight, but will take "time, patience, and wisdom" to work out. Regarding Beijing's unease over the referendum, however, Wang proposes a simple way out of the impasse: "If China is so uneasy about the referendum, it should consider removing its missiles. After all, the shield will prove unnecessary if there is no sword threatening Taiwan."