Link to Article: https://apnews.com/article/taiwanchinaspyingcriminalgang2879327f20b69b6d6762394edba979dd
In the last year, 64 alleged spies have been put on trial as the Taiwanese Intelligence Bureau claims that China’s main spy agency, the State Security Ministry, is gaining information on Taiwan’s defenses by collaborating with criminal gangs, shell companies, and other partners. This is a massive influx of alleged spies compared to 10 in 2022 and 16 in 2021, and around half of those accused in the last year were current and retired Taiwanese military personnel. These arrests are related to the uptick in Chinese attempts to promote unification by using tactics such as economic coercion, utilizing the internet, and providing all-expense paid trips to China. The recruitment of retired military personnel by China has been advanced by the fact that many of these former Taiwanese military members were born on the Chinese mainland and support the unification of China and Taiwan.
China and Taiwan have naturally always disagreed over the independence movement in Taiwan, but these recent developments suggest that the Chinese government is increasing its efforts to reincorporate Taiwan into China. As mentioned above, there has been an uptick in Chinese attempts to promote unification, which points to the possibility that China may decide to invade Taiwan sometime soon in the future, likely in the next few years. This article is critical because it brings attention to the lengths the Chinese government will go to in order to achieve their goal of unification, that they are comfortable with collaborating with criminal gangs and infiltrating Taiwanese citizens’ privacy to get what they want.
We have already seen how Taiwan has responded to China’s attempts at promoting unification, by placing an increasing number of alleged spies on trial. However, if China continues to act so aggressively, Taiwan may need to consider new ways of combating their offensive moves. Previously mentioned above, it is possible that China will, or may be already, working towards an invasion of Taiwan, in which case the Taiwanese government will need to mobilize in order to counter their attacks. Since both governments have a long standing disagreement, this could be the climax of many minor conflicts, in which China and Taiwan would need to use military force.
This conflict relates to the idea of democratic peace theory, or rather, the lack of a democracy in China. Democratic peace theory states that the type of government in a state significantly influences its foreign policy and decreases conflict between democracies. While Taiwan is a democracy, China is not, meaning that, unlike France and Canada, both democratic countries, there is no common form of government that prevents China and Taiwan from engaging in conflicts. Additionally, this connects to security policies, international behavior that advances a state’s fundamental interests and determines how aggressively a state will act with other actors. China obviously has a fundamental interest in unifying with Taiwan, which is causing it to act aggressively with the Taiwanese government.