Chinese media source Guancha has suggested that even though China maintains a no first-use nuclear policy, that should the US intervene if China attempts to invade and annex Taiwan, that it will hold this as an exception. It also claims that because it falsely claims Taiwan as part of the sovereign PRC, that the Geneva Convention rules do not apply to its treatment of Taiwan, nor of non-Chinese soldiers who intervene.
“台湾是中国的一部分,解放军不可能对台湾使用核武器,但如果美国军事干预的话,情况就不一样了。Taiwan is a part of China, and the PLA could not use nuclear weapons in Taiwan. But if the US military intervenes, the situation will no longer be the same… 外国非法人员进入台湾作战将被作为武装恐怖分子处理,日内瓦公约不适用。Foreign troops who enter Taiwan will be treated as hostile terrorists and the Geneva Convention will no longer apply.”
This definitional shifting to claim Chinese exemption from the rules of international law and war is a dangerous precedent and challenge to the global system, no doubt driven by an Chinese Communist Party emboldened by Putin’s violation of the UN Charter in its invasion of Ukraine.
Taiwan has responded to these developments with alarm, with members of the opposition KMT, and pan-Green NPP both voicing support for increasing the length of mandatory conscription to allow Taiwan’s reservists more training and readiness to defend the country, after watching the vigorous defense of Ukraine.
Taiwanese sources have reported they estimate that 45,000 Russian soldiers have been killed, injured, or captures, totalling a third of the invading force (SPRAVDI claims 14,000 killed with no details on injured or captured). This has given many hope that Taiwan could similarly resist an invasion.
Still, there are concerns that Taiwan’s limited international recognition as a nation-state will hamper the ability of UN states or even NATO to assist, punish the PRC, or intervene in the event of an invasion. As such, some are criticizing the United States muddled double-talk on the inherent sovereignty of the ROC or Taiwan.
China has repeated its assertions that it maintains sovereignty over Taiwan, to distinguish its actions towards it as non-aggressive, raising concern. It should be remembered that the PRC, despite its claims, has no intrinsic values or respect for the international order, and uses those tools instrumentally and only when they suit its purpose.
“在此同時,有人試圖把台灣問題和烏克蘭危機聯繫起來,趁機渲染台海衝突風險。這兩種是本質不同的兩件事,烏克蘭是主權國家,而台灣是中國領土不可分割的一部分,台灣問題是中國內政。一些人不能在烏克蘭問題上強調主權原則,轉過頭就在台灣問題上損害中國主權和領土完整。Some have attempted to connect the ‘Taiwan question’ to the Ukraine Crisis, taking advantage of the risks in the Taiwan strait. The two are not the same. Ukraine is a sovereign country, but Taiwan is not. It is an inseparable part of the territory of China, and therefore the ‘Taiwan question’ is a matter of internal politics. It’s not appropriate to support the sovereignty of Ukraine, but then when turning to the ‘Taiwan question’ try to harm the territorial integrity of China”
All PRC sovereignty claims regarding Taiwan are preposterous, and there is no legal or historical basis for any PRC claims to Taiwan, other than the long-standing grudges against the KMT, and the false promises made to enact their revenge and symbolically conclude the Chinese Civil War.
As such, the PRC has demonstrated through its actions in Hong Kong, Tibet, Xinjiang, and the Southwest Pacific, that it is fundamentally a dangerous expansionist state. Since Mao, the PRC has expressed its willingness to sacrifice hundreds of millions of its citizens in a nuclear war just to preserve the ego of the leaders of its totalitarian regime. For the free world, as with Russia, the ultimate aim should be immediate regime change, and the extermination of the parties and ideologies who seek to subjugate the world to a new era of anarchic cruelty in which the strong annihilate the weak to suit their wicked interests. We must use every drop of our resources to preserve order and human rights or risk losing them forever.