Japan Institute for National Fundamentals

　
On May 20 when a ceremony was held for Taiwan’s President Tsai Ingwen to enter her second term, the United States announced the sale of 18 torpedoes to Taiwan. They were MK-48 large guided torpedoes to be mounted on a submarine Taiwan plans to build. Even one MK-48 is powerful enough to sink a destroyer. However, Taiwan’s possession of these torpedoes would not necessarily enhance its defense capabilities against Communist China. This is because Taiwan’s military secrets are regarded as leaking out to China. So, the U.S. is still cautious of providing state-of-the-art weapons to Taiwan.

Taiwan and Japan include pro-China elements

Japan and Taiwan are said to share the same destiny. But they also share vulnerability to Communist China’s penetration.

Pro-China elements in Japan are consisted of two groups. One emerged from Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Four Policemen scheme to control the post-World-War-II world under the four veto-holding permanent United Nations Security Council members – the United States, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the Republic of China. The other hails from Chinese agents Mao Zedong sent to Japan after the breakout of the Korean War. Japan then had a pro-Beijing policy of securing a non-U.S. partner after its defeat to the U.S., being ready to accept Chinese agents.

Taiwan also has two pro-Beijing groups. One stems from Chinese mainlanders (elites and military personnel) brought into Taiwan by Chiang Kaishek. The other stems from Communist Chinese agents who have entered Taiwan after Chiang Chingkuo’s policy of allowing Taiwanese to visit relatives in continental China was implemented. Since allowance of the visit in the late 1980s, retired senior officers of Taiwanese army have frequently visited continental China for the nominal purpose of attending alumni reunion of graduates from the Whampoa Military Academy (founded by Sun Yatsen) to interact with active or retired generals of the People’s Liberation Army, hear a lecture by the CCP general secretary and sing China’s national anthem.

Darkness of La Fayette scandal

The so-called La Fayette scandal indicates a formidable effect of the two pro-Beijing (anti-Taiwan) groups’ penetration into Taiwan. In the scandal, Taiwan purchased six La Fayette-class frigates from a French company for $2.65 billion against $1.25 billion Singapore paid for the six frigates of the same type and had to pay an additional $2 billion for weapons for the frigates from which all weapons had been delivered to Communist China. France provided 56 boxes of La Fayette blueprints to China in exchange for Beijing’s tacit approval of the deal.

Taiwan’s payments were doubled from the Singaporean level to generate rebates. China used the blueprints from France to build frigates of the same type and still operates them. In this way, the performance of major weapons in Taiwan is well known to Communist China.

Regarding the scandal, more than 10 people including some French, died under suspicious circumstances. According to Andy Chan, a Taiwanese living in the U.S., who investigated the scandal, Taiwan’s Navy has been put under the influence of the Green Gang secret society in China and the bodies of the dead were disposed of in the Green Gang style. The suspicious deaths still remain unsolved, with none punished.

It is difficult to prevent Communist China’s penetrations. But the prevention is an important issue for the rest of the world. As well as Taiwan, Japan should make national efforts to develop arrangements to prevent secret information from being leaked.

Kichinosuke Ihara is a professor emeritus at Tezukayama University.