Western double standard exposed on Taiwan question

The greatest challenge facing Western society, which is also primarily responsible for its steady decline, is the double standard it has been practicing in regard to all issues of global importance. Western double standard has discredited institutions, regulations and security in Western countries. When conflicting standards are applied to similar situations, frustration grows. The practice also exposes Western schizophrenia regarding moral, social and political standards. As a result, consistency and coherence — two of humanity’s significant traits — have been replaced by inconsistency and incoherence. Examples abound in the actions of Western countries.

Comparing the Taiwan question with the Ukraine crisis, for instance, is one of the most common mistakes Western media and analysts have made. Such superficial comparisons seek to simplify two very different, complex and challenging issues.

The Taiwan question is China’s internal affair, whereas the Ukraine crisis is an international law issue resulting from NATO’s continuous eastward expansion to restrain Russia’s capacity to act internationally. The Taiwan question and the Ukraine crisis are different according to international law.

The Taiwan question is about the reunification of Taiwan island with the motherland and the application of the one-China principle.

Moscow, on the other hand, has affirmed that its actions seek to protect ethnic Russians in Ukraine and prevent Ukraine from joining NATO and bringing the Western military alliance to its doorstep and thus posing a huge security risk.

However, Western media deliberately mixes these issues. Taiwan has been an integral part of China since ancient times. It was occupied by Japan after the First Sino-Japanese War (1894-95) but following Japan’s unconditional surrender which ended World War II in 1945, the Potsdam Declaration (1945) determined Taiwan’s return to China — the Cairo Declaration of 1943, too, had done the same. Equally important, United Nations Resolution 2758 clearly and unambiguously states that Taiwan is an integral part of China, and most of the countries in the world adhere to the one-China principle.

However, after the Russia-Ukraine conflict broke out, major Western media outlets have been wrongfully comparing the Ukraine conflict to the Taiwan question, basically indicating that China will follow in Russia’s footsteps to take military action against the island to realize national reunification. However, it should be noted that China has been pursuing the goal of national reunification for generations, dating back to 1949, well before the Ukraine crisis.

What’s more, such media outlets never take into consideration those voices on the island that seek peaceful reunification. By encouraging separatist forces on the island to intensify their stir and selling billions of dollars worth of weapons to the island on the pretext of protecting US interests in Asia, Washington is blatantly interfering in China’s internal affairs and causing regional instability.

The “Asian century” heralds as a period of global peace and harmony, especially because Asia has had a much less bellicose history in recent centuries than the West.

Moreover, China is leading global efforts to improve global governance to help build a community with a shared future for mankind where wars and chaos have no place. In contrast, the US is promoting global instability to maintain its global hegemony.

By resorting to double standard, Western countries have created serious challenges for other countries. In the case of the Israel-Palestine conflict, it is evident that Israel’s policy of eliminating Hamas disregards preventive action to minimize civilian casualties.

The incoherent migration policies of the European Union and its member states, which are mainly aimed at barring the entry of foreigners into the EU, are another major example of Western double standard. The European countries now seek to protect themselves from the negative consequences of their colonial rule, which has caused so much suffering to the people in the countries of the Global South and thrust many of them into political instability.

Furthermore, Western interventionist policies to promote so-called democracy in other countries have only deteriorated the situation in those countries. Afghanistan, Iraq and Libya, to name a few, are apt examples of the West’s high-handedness and know-all attitude which have condemned millions of people to death, economic instability and political chaos.

The West is failing because of its double standard, and refusal to believe that the world needs peace, welfare and stability. The US-led West also refuses to accept that the Taiwan question is China’s internal affair and continues to interfere in it to fulfil its narrow political goals. The Vietnam War which claimed millions of lives and the continuing impact of Agent Orange on the Southeast Asian country should be a constant reminder that the West creates problems in every issue it interferes in but can never solve them.

The author is a visiting professor at China Foreign Affairs University, and senior fellow at the Policy Center for the New South based in Morocco.

The views don’t necessarily represent those of China Daily.

If you have a specific expertise, or would like to share your thought about our stories, then send us your writings at opinion@chinadaily.com.cn, and comment@chinadaily.com.cn.