TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan must prepare for a Chinese attack in all ways, including psychologically, militarily, and diplomatically, Taiwanese political pundit Ken Chou (范疇) said.

Taiwan has gone 70 years without experiencing a war or refugee situation, so people have grown “numb” to conflict, Chou told Taiwan News. However, the regional situation has never been as dangerous as now, he said.

Chou urged the Taiwan government to form as many regional and international alliances as it can, as a way to strengthen deterrence and boost its connections with the rest of the world. This attitude should also be embedded in the psyche of Taiwanese, he added.

“It must be in the blood of every Taiwanese, but we are still quite far from it,” he said.

Chou suggested that university students be required to go abroad and participate in a work-study type of program for two years, instead of undergoing four months of mandatory military service. This is the best way to train young Taiwanese and promote people-to-people relations, he said.

The political pundit said that without the Chinese threat, Taiwanese society would grow and prosper without a problem if left alone for 20 years. However, given Beijing’s unrelenting military intimidation, “Taiwan must compress 20 years of organic growth into three to five years to save itself,” he said.

Overhaul deterrence strategy

This massive undertaking must be carried out both by the government and the people, Chou said.

Taiwanese must also demonstrate their willingness to die for their country, he said.

“If China is crazy enough to start (a conflict), nobody is going to automatically come to help Taiwan,” he said. The world will only take action if Taiwanese show they are serious about defending their nation, he said.

“If you’re afraid of bleeding, GI Joe is not going to bleed for you,” Chou said, referring to American military support. He said the government could do much better in order to “make Taiwanese braver” but acknowledged it would take a long time.

Commenting on President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) performance so far, Chou said she should “take more risks” in terms of soft power strategies to advance the country’s sovereignty and international space, now that she is in her last term. There are a lot of things that Tsai can do if she is willing to be more daring, he said.

For example, in Taiwan’s constitution, Chou pointed out that there is no clause specifying the English name of the Mandarin term “Republic of China (ROC),” Taiwan’s official name. The ROC is just a convention that is not dictated by law and can be changed into anything, he said.

Chou recommended that the government remove the word "China" from its English name to distance itself from the concept of China.

Since Taiwan was the first Asian nation to legalize same-sex marriage, it could leverage this as a form of propaganda to convince gay soldiers in China’s People’s Liberation Army to defect to Taiwan, he said.

Despite the countless “creative” ways Taiwan can pursue to boost its international status, Chou said he doubts Tsai will choose to do so due to domestic pressure and protest from Washington.

Misconceptualizing the CCP

Chou said the “game theory” type of perspective that Western experts are using to analyze the likelihood and success rate of a Chinese attack on Taiwan is not enough to fully understand the situation. Comparing military capability, tonnage of ships, and number of missiles is the wrong approach, he said.

Whether to attack Taiwan is going to be a political decision, he said. In China, it’s all about “powerism,” a term he coined to describe the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) top goal: to remain in power. The CCP has proven that it can sacrifice millions of lives or undergo 10-20 years of economic decline just to stay in power, he said.

In a country where there is no transition of power, where there can be revolutions and coups, "starting a military action becomes a pure power play," he said. Thus, Taiwan needs the support of the U.S., Japan, and the rest of the world, he said, adding that the international community must see the strategic importance of Taiwan.

“Does the U.S. want to be a hegemony like it is now for the next century? Does the region want to keep its existing prosperity, order, intact? If yes, then they had better put Taiwan as top priority,” he said.