THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
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Claims that China seeks global domination are ridiculous

Claims that China seeks global domination are ridiculous

Re: “Chinese majoritarianism would have dangerous consequences for our region”, Have Your Say, January 9.

S Tsow presents an argument that majoritarianism is allied with Chinese chauvinism and is the driving force behind China’s will to take back not only Taiwan but also any part of the surrounding region. This is not true.
The status of Taiwan is articulated in the One China policy, which specifies that Taiwan is part of the People’s Republic of China. This policy is accepted by all United Nation member countries, barring a small handful of states that still retain full diplomatic relations with the Republic of China (Taiwan). No countries recognise Taiwan as an independent country. China’s standpoint on Taiwan is clear: any negotiation has to be based on “the 1992 consensus” – that both sides recognise there is only one China. The “one country, two systems” policy is one possible way to accommodate the ideology of both sides. Those who say “one country, two systems” is a joke perpetrated on Hong Kong are the minority who do not want to see a smooth transition. This minority wants to disrupt the status quo and is screaming for Hong Kong’s independence. By waving British flags and chanting for independence they are nothing but traitors. We could compare this to a Thai openly calling for an independent state here in the far South. 
Deng Xiaoping’s assurance that China would never practise “big-power chauvinism” has never gone. But Deng and his successors also reiterated that they will not allow one inch of Chinese territory to be taken away, even if it means the use of force in defence. 
The repeated allegation that China will conquer the rest of the world is ridiculous. And to suggest that China will claim Singapore as its own, just because the country is dominated by Chinese descendants, is absurd. In the 5,000 years of Chinese culture,  Chinese people have rarely been seen as belligerent and provocative. 
The paranoid McCarthyism being directed at today’s China is twisting and ignorant of facts. I doubt that writers who frequently demonise China with the same old words – “tyranny”, “emperor”, etc – have ever experienced the modern China, apart from hearing selected and distorted Chinese news from the BBC, CNN and other Western mainstream media!  This shows the desperation of the imperialists and colonists who are losing their priority status. It also indicates they are jealous of a communist regime that has lifted one third of its 1.4 billion population out of poverty in merely three decades, and become one of the world’s largest economies. 
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen’s dream of an independent Taiwan will shatter the moment her independence flag is raised. She should read more Chinese literature, especially “The Romance of Three Kingdoms”, which tells us on its opening page: “The global trend of countries is to unite after long separation.” A romance between two kingdoms should be less complicated to fix than one between three. 
Yingwai Suchaovanich

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