Taiwan is a living rebuttal to Communism determinism

Edited translation

Yu Maochun exposes the CCP's biggest lie! "Unification of Taiwan" is a complete hoax

—Yu Maochun: Ten Fallacies in the CCP's Myth of "Unifying Taiwan"—Taiwan is a living rebuttal to Communism determinism

Editor: Jiang Yi / Source: The Washington Times [Machine Translation] / https://www.aboluowang.com/2025/1201/2313449.html / Image : Illustration of China and Taiwan unification, by Linas Garsys/The Washington Post

China's slogan of "unification" is a hoax built on fear, ideology, and deception. Taiwan is not a rebellious province, but a living rebuttal to communist determinism, a society that chooses freedom over fear. Here are ten of the most striking reasons:

Taiwan has never been part of the People's Republic of China

Not an inch of Taiwan has ever been ruled by the Chinese Communist Party. Since the founding of the PRC in 1949, Taiwan has been completely free from its political, legal, and military control. Therefore, the notion of "unification" is pure fabrication: how can a place that has never been unified be "unified"?

Taiwan's sovereignty is not an extension of the KMT-CCP ​​civil war

Taiwan's sovereignty and independence are not products of the KMT-CCP ​​struggle, nor do they stem from any linguistic connection with China. Otherwise, it would be akin to Vladimir Putin's logic in invading Ukraine: invoking a shared language and history to justify the invasion. Taiwan's modern sovereignty did not begin with the fall of the Qing Dynasty in 1911, nor with the Kuomintang's flight to Taiwan in 1949, but rather with the advancement of Taiwan's democratization process in the late 1980s and its cessation of its claim to represent "China." Like Ukraine after 1991, Taiwan's nation-building stemmed from its political awakening, not the collapse of an empire.

International law rejects historical justification for annexation

The 2016 Hague arbitration ruling on China's South China Sea claims thoroughly refuted the use of "historical rights" as a basis for territorial claims. China's "nine-dash line" was deemed to lack legal basis. The same principle applies to Taiwan: ancient ties, population migration, or dynastic rule cannot justify modern annexation. However, Beijing continues to use history to justify its expansion and pressure neighbors such as India, Bhutan, Vietnam, and Japan. Its behavior resembles that of a neo-imperial power rather than a victim of post-colonialism.

The CCP's obsession with Taiwan is not driven by "national reunification," but by the desire to complete the unfinished communist "liberation" of 1949. Taiwan's continued autonomy serves as an ideological wound, a reminder that the communist revolution never conquered the entirety of "China." The CCP's army, the so-called People's Liberation Army, still considers the "liberation" of Taiwan its mission. This obsession stems not from patriotism, but from revolutionary revanchism—an unwavering determination to prove the absolute correctness of the Party and its founding myth.

The CCP has never cared about historical boundaries

If territorial integrity were the true motive, Beijing would not have willingly ceded vast territories of historical China, far exceeding the area of ​​Taiwan, to its ideological allies. In 1945, the CCP recognized Mongolia's independence, ceded large tracts of land to the Soviet Union, and demarcated borders with socialist Burma and communist North Korea. The CCP's history of ceding "Chinese" territory exposes the emptiness of its rhetoric on the Taiwan issue. Ideology, not geography, has consistently shaped the CCP's choices.

U.S. policy does not recognize Taiwan as part of China

All U.S.-China diplomatic and legal instruments, including the Three Communiqués, the Taiwan Relations Act, and the Six Assurances, do not accept Beijing's claim that Taiwan belongs to China. The United States' "One China" policy merely acknowledges the People's Republic of China's sovereignty claim over Taiwan, neither agreeing nor opposing it. Washington opposes any attempt to change the status quo by force and insists that any solution must be agreed upon by the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

Polls show that the vast majority of Taiwanese support the status quo—de facto independence—and identify themselves as Taiwanese, not Chinese, just as over 75% of ethnic Chinese in Singapore identify as Singaporeans, not Chinese.

As for UN Resolution 2758 of 1971, it merely moved China's non-permanent seat on the Security Council from Taipei to Beijing; it did not declare Taiwan part of the People's Republic of China. Successive US administrations, both Republican and Democratic, have consistently adhered to this interpretation, most recently in August. Beijing's distortion of the resolution is propaganda, not international law.

Taiwan as a convenient diversionary tactic

Beijing's obsession with Taiwan subtly diverts attention from domestic and international focus on the CCP's true crimes: its role in the global fentanyl trafficking, the origins of the COVID-19 pandemic, systemic human rights abuses, religious persecution, and repeated violations of trade and treaty obligations. By inciting nationalist sentiment towards Taiwan, the CCP has diverted attention from scrutinizing its own crimes and manipulated international public opinion. The "Taiwan issue" is less a matter of sovereignty and more a matter of finding a scapegoat.

Fear of Freedom: Taiwan as an existential threat to the CCP

What frightens the CCP is not Taiwan's geographical location, but its model of success. Taiwan's success as a free, democratic, and predominantly Chinese society utterly shatters Beijing's lie that Chinese culture and freedom are incompatible. Taiwan's vibrant elections, protected property rights, and rule of law demonstrate what China can achieve after breaking free from CCP tyranny. The CCP's fear is a matter of survival: a prosperous and democratic Taiwan proves that the Chinese people are fully capable of self-governance.

Therefore, the party's campaign to "eliminate" Taiwan is also an attempt to stifle the hopes for freedom among 1.4 billion people in mainland China.

Disinformation machine and its Western Agents

To reinforce its false narrative, Beijing has meticulously constructed a sophisticated disinformation network in the West for decades. Its agents include business elites with close ties to the Chinese market, globalist opinion leaders and columnists pandering to the CCP's rhetoric, current and former federal officials keen to maintain diplomatic harmony and bilateral tranquility, scholars adhering to the "America First" rhetoric, university research centers funded by the CCP's United Front Work Department, and think tanks funded by corporate interest groups. These defenders portray Taiwan as a provocateur, its elected leaders as "reckless," and the United States as an "instigator." This ecosystem of public opinion, rooted in greed, ideological sympathy, self-serving flattery, and deliberate ignorance, serves the CCP's ultimate goal: to undermine Western moral perception and normalize authoritarian aggression.

The ultimate deception: "Unification" is imperial restoration

The term "unification" masks a plan for imperial restoration. The CCP's demands on Taiwan are not about restoring the unity of the Chinese nation, but about reaffirming its one-party dictatorship over all Han Chinese people. This is consistent with its repressive logic in Xinjiang, Tibet, and Hong Kong: that no other political model is permitted within the "Chinese nation." Therefore, "unification" is not a national project, but a totalitarian one. It demands submission, not cooperation; obliteration, not harmony. To call it "internal affairs" and "national unification" is tantamount to legitimizing conquest and betraying the universal principles of sovereignty and self-determination. The question facing the world is not whether China and Taiwan will be "unified," but whether truth and tyranny can coexist.

History shows they cannot, and this is precisely what Beijing fears most.

• Yu Maochun (Miles Yu) is the director of the China Center at the Hudson Institute. His column "Red Horizon" is published every other Tuesday in The Washington Post. He can be contacted at mmilesyu@gmail.com.