Invasion is the essence of the CCP, opposing Taiwan independence is just an excuse | Dialogue with Yu Maochun [Zhi Ding Lecture Hall Cao Xingcheng] EP45

This video is an exclusive interview with Dr. Yu Maochun hosted by Cao Xingcheng on "Zhi Ding Lecture Hall." The interview revolves around the normalization and substance of the CCP's military threats and psychological warfare against Taiwan, historical lessons and the warning from the rise of the Nazis, and the analysis of Taiwan's defense and the fallacy of distrusting the US. It also deeply explores the essential nature of the CCP's aggressive tendencies and its deceptive rhetoric, emphasizing that the Taiwanese people can only truly maintain their democracy and sovereignty through a firm resolve to resist and self-reliance in national defense.

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Hello everyone, and welcome to Zhi Ding Lecture Hall. Today, we are very fortunate to have Dr. Yu Maochun from the United States to have a dialogue with us. Mr. Yu, if you look him up on Wikipedia, you can find a lot of information. Thank you, Mr. Cao, and hello to all viewers. Mr. Yu was born in 1962. You graduated from Nankai University in 1983, right? Nankai University, yes. You went to study in the US in 1985 and obtained your Ph.D. in History from UC Berkeley in 1994. You then joined the US Naval Academy as a professor of East Asian and Military History. Dr. Yu is now a tenured professor, correct? That's a very important job security in the US. Professor Yu has taught hundreds of US naval officers, many of whom now work in the US State Department and Department of Defense. Mr. Yu has a significant influence on many US policies. Starting in 2017, Mr. Yu Maochun joined the Trump administration as the Chief China Policy Planning Advisor to Secretary of State Pompeo, significantly influencing Trump's China policy.

So, today, talking with Mr. Yu, the first thing I'd like to ask is about the recent normalization of the CCP's military threats and psychological warfare. They are about to conduct semi-blockade and semi-exercises again, and the Congress is making noise. Do you have any observations on the situation in Taiwan, and are you concerned? I not only observe, but I am experiencing it firsthand. The sounds from their hotel are audible within minutes. However, Mr. Cao, thank you. It is a great honor to be here at your Zhi Ding Lecture Hall. You are a distinguished guest. I think the name Zhi Ding Lecture Hall is very well chosen, but I think it should be called Zhi Xing Lecture Hall, as in the unity of knowledge and action. You are a respectable person, consistent in both cognition and action. Not at all, not at all. So, I am very honored to have reached a relatively high realm of investigating things to the utmost to gain knowledge, which is not easy. Therefore, I congratulate you on your achievements, and you are highly respected in all sectors of society. You mentioned the military threats and psychological warfare; this is not a special occasion, it is a norm. If the CCP were to cease its military threats and psychological warfare one day, it would cease to be the CCP. This time, of course, the situation is particularly special because Taiwan has conducted another very successful democratic election. This democratic election, in terms of procedure and legitimacy, has not been seriously challenged; it is very real. This is precisely why Taiwan's democratic transition and its legitimate government have gained recognition from the vast majority of people worldwide. You see, I am here with Mr. Pompeo, also to congratulate the President on his inauguration. We have met many friends from allied nations, which signifies not only congratulations on Mr. Lai's personal achievements but also a comfort and support for the democratic achievements of the Taiwanese people. Therefore, in the eyes of the CCP, this is naturally rebellious and unacceptable. Thus, it must threaten Taiwan's democratic processes.

But the CCP is a government that is very incapable of learning lessons. It has been doing this for decades. Since the opening of democratic procedures in 1995-96, it has engaged in this kind of verbal and military intimidation, and every time it has done so, the effect has been the opposite. So it is forever unable to learn lessons. Therefore, although the CCP appears very strong in this regard, it is actually very stupid. It does not understand whether its dogmatic Marxist-Leninist approach of verbal and military intimidation, in some areas where people are unaware of its traditional behavior, has truly had a beneficial effect on its policy objectives. This is why, in the absence of democratic mechanisms and internal policy interaction and debate within the government, the CCP's state actions are basically detrimental to itself.

However, much of what it does is exported and then re-imported. It makes a laughingstock of itself abroad, but it is very effective in deceiving the people at home, isn't that so? Deception is also effective, but whether it is truly effective now is really hard to say. If you were to truly ask the people in mainland China under free and open conditions what their views are on Xi Jinping, what their intelligence is, what their physical strength is, whether they can really carry two hundred jin for two hundred steps without changing shoulders? It cannot be said that the people's eyes are as sharp as lightning, but under normal information conditions, they know some things. So I think isolation is certainly more effective, there is no doubt about that. Because China controls the channels of information, and it controls and monopolizes the power of interpreting information. There is only one channel. If you interpret it differently from me, then you have a problem, and at the highest level, you are anti-party and anti-socialist, which is of course even more serious.

I don't think the CCP's verbal and military intimidation has caused much inconvenience to the normal lives of the Taiwanese people, but look at which country has truly come out in full force to endorse the CCP's actions? I don't see any. At most, perhaps under pressure from China, countries like Iran and North Korea might say a few words, but the CCP is going against the world's trends, so it is very passive. I don't think the Taiwanese people are very concerned about this matter, because it has been happening for a long time, and it is done frequently. Despite the CCP's verbal and military intimidation, the stock market has actually risen, and people's lives are normal. Those who are protesting in the Legislative Yuan now have no direct relation to the CCP's verbal and military intimidation; they are protesting internal operational issues within Taiwan's democratic system. So, I don't think there is chaos or panic, but rather a strengthened conviction among the people that China's system and Taiwan's system are completely incompatible.

What is more worrying is that it is now using democratic means to attack your democracy. Look at the Legislative Yuan now, the Kuomintang, including the Taiwan People's Party, has a majority, though not a large one, just a few votes. They are starting to use their majority to expand their powers, to place legislative power above executive and judicial power. This is quite outrageous. So now everyone is coming out to protest, I am on the streets. I know, and I saw your speech, it was very impassioned. I will be on the streets again tonight. In fact, many young people are gathering now, and young votes will determine the future, so if there is an opportunity to interact with young people, I will definitely go. So now I think the CCP, of course, has two things: deception and violence. However, sometimes we must guard against its deception, whether it might want to learn from Hitler and use democratic means to achieve autocracy? You should be able to give us a lecture on how Hitler accomplished this.

Let me first talk about how the United States handled this matter. When the Founding Fathers of the United States were formulating the political blueprint for the United States and establishing a new government, they naturally did so based on the principles of democracy, the most basic tenets of the Enlightenment: all men are created equal, legitimate governments must obtain the consent of the people, and sovereignty resides in the people, Government by consent of the governed, and All men are created equal, these very basic principles. But when they designed it, they also had a very complex issue: for democracy to function normally, it must abide by several rules. These rules may not be entirely perfect, but there is no other way. For example, one of the most fundamental aspects of democracy is that it must be conducted through elections, and these elections must be open and fair. When there are fair procedures, then the results of the election must be that the minority obeys the majority, and the majority's opinion must be respected, but at the same time, the rights of the minority must also be protected.

So the question is, if the majority of parties come to power, and they have the authority, do they have a mechanism, a constitutional mechanism, to ensure that the majority party does not abuse its power, suppress or even deprive the rights of the minority? There are many mechanisms for this, but it's not perfect. The United States is relatively complete in this regard, with procedural aspects, the functioning of the federal government, the recognition of local governments, reconsideration, referendums, and many other mechanisms. Even so, the founding fathers of the United States could not be completely at ease, because they recognized that people have personal interests, meaning that when you pursue your personal interests, you must also consider the rights of others. The founding fathers of the United States created a new and very important philosophy. What is this philosophy? It is that everyone has inalienable rights, which are Unalienable Rights. What are these Unalienable Rights? Regardless of whether they are in the majority or minority, everyone has a sacred territory that is Beyond the reach of the majority. The power of the majority party absolutely cannot reach that place, and this is the universal value. Therefore, the democratic system in the United States has been able to develop stably for more than two hundred years, based on Unalienable Rights.

Then I mentioned earlier, you said Hitler came to power. The Nazi Party, along with Italy, is a very innovative country. It has innovated many things, like airplanes and motorcycles, which are good, but it has also created many very bad things. Fascism originated in Italy. How did Fascism arise? In the 1920s, there were many labor problems. The Communist Party, with the Soviet Union having just been established, took this opportunity to create chaos, organize strikes, general strikes, and paralyze the country's economy. In such a situation, the economy could not function optimally. It was precisely at this time that the Italian middle class and capitalists needed to hire some people to maintain social stability. The country was paralyzed, and there were many parties in Italy, none of which could gain a majority. If a party that did not win a majority of seats could not form a government, it had to form a coalition government, which was very chaotic and lacked consistent regulations. At this time, Mussolini, represented by private detectives and underworld figures, gradually formed a political party called the Fascist Party. Why is it called Fascist? Fascist is a word that means a club or a stick. That's why it's called the Fascist Party. They used this illegal power to completely destroy people's Unalienable Rights, so there was no guarantee of rights that were beyond the reach of the majority. This is what Italy created. So after Mussolini came to power, he said that you are all chaotic and unstable, so I will use my position as the largest party to declare that my largest party is equal to the majority party, and therefore I have veto power. In this way, he declared the Communist Party and other opposing parties illegal. However, he also managed the economy well, saying that he made the trains run on time, which is the same tactic used in China.

Hitler learned this lesson, so he also created these fascist clubs within the Nazi Party, although the name was more deceptive: it was called the National Socialist Party, the National Socialist Party. His Brownshirts were the clubs, and that's how fascism works. Hitler used these private armed forces to seize power. Whoever didn't obey, he would beat them. This is exactly the same as that Yuen Long incident in Hong Kong. The Communist Party uses the power of gangsters to attack you, to cause you personal harm. This is due to the lack of constitutional protection. Germany was also very chaotic. The Communist Party was also in decline. In the late 1920s and 1930s, Germany's largest parties were radical parties: the Communist Party, the Social Democratic Party, and the Nazi Party – the extreme left and extreme right. In the election around 1930, no single party obtained a majority. In the 1932 election, the Nazi Party received the most votes, but the other parties refused to cooperate with it, saying that it lacked the consciousness of a party leader. Hitler said this was wrong. Since I am the largest party elected through democratic procedures, I should form the government. At this time, the President of the Weimar Republic, Hindenburg, gave Hitler one year to form a government. After he formed the government, around January 30, 1933, he became the Chancellor of Germany. The first thing he did after becoming Chancellor was to hold new elections. Before these elections, the German Reichstag caught fire. Hitler claimed the Communists did it, so he arrested the Communists and sent them to concentration camps. By the summer of 1933, the Nazi Party was not just a majority party, but the only party. After Hindenburg died, Hitler became not only the sole leader of Germany but also the leader of Germany's only political party. After Hindenburg's death, he also became the President of the country. He said no one had constitutional provisions for this, so he told them not to call him anything else but 'Leader,' Führer. That's how it came about. Therefore, Hitler's rise to power is a classic example of destroying democracy through democratic procedures. The world should learn from this lesson. Taiwan, in this situation, should also learn this lesson. The line between democracy and autocracy is very thin. If everyone does not adhere to basic principles, does not have perseverance, and does not, like Mr. Cao, not only be young in age but also young in spirit, to exert pressure on those in power and express political demands through democratic procedures, it is very dangerous. Therefore, I am deeply moved by the participation of the Taiwanese people in politics. If, one day, the Taiwanese people become indifferent to these important matters, the country will be doomed. Yes, they must take to the streets.

In Taiwan, I think many people have asked you this question: many people are asking about Taiwan's defense. They say Taiwan cannot rely on itself; it must rely on the United States. For example, Jaw Shaw-kong publicly stated that for the past 70 years, we have not been swallowed by the CCP because we relied on the United States. However, he also said that the United States cannot be relied upon, which is contradictory. So, many people ask whether the United States can be relied upon or not. The United States is a great power, undoubtedly. Its greatness is not only in its strong economy, powerful military, and extensive cultural influence. The key issue is that the United States is a nation that upholds justice. It has a profound spirit of commitment to world peace and the realization of universal values globally. The best answer is that the United States is a global nation. It has a very close sense of identity with world peace and its own economic development. That is to say, if the world is unstable, American society will also be unstable. Therefore, precisely because of this, the United States has very strong alliances around the world. I study history, and I have never seen a country in world history establish so many alliances based on values and ideals. This is different from the strategies of 'vertical and horizontal alliances' and 'attacking distant enemies while befriending neighbors' during the Warring States period, which involved a lot of deceit and pragmatism. Look at the United States' role in NATO and its actions in the Asian region; it maintains peace. Many countries, under its leadership, have made significant sacrifices and contributions to world peace.

The issue you just raised is very important: whether the United States can be relied upon or not. You can use history to prove that the United States is absolutely reliable. Even if American politicians said before the Korean War that the Korean Peninsula was outside the US defense perimeter, as soon as the actual invasion occurred, the United States immediately moved in. The Korean War, the Vietnam War, the Afghanistan War – in many places, the United States has been a country that upholds justice. So, whether it can be relied upon or not is actually not the issue with the United States. The fundamental problem of whether it can be relied upon or not lies with the people receiving aid from the United States. Afghans might also be asking if the United States is reliable, but if you don't have a national leader to lead your own people to resist foreign invasion and enemies, then even the most reliable United States cannot help. So why does Ukraine feel the United States is reliable? Because Ukrainians have demonstrated their courage to defend their country, and their leader has an unwavering determination to protect their national sovereignty. Israel is the same. The reason Israel has become one of America's staunchest friends is because Israel considers defending its country its own obligation, rather than relying entirely on American help. So, even without American aid, Israelis believe they must survive on their own. Therefore, the more you have this determination, the more you have this kind of leadership temperament, the more you have this resolve to resist, the more reliable the United States will be. So this is not a question of the depth of America's commitment to you, but entirely depends on whether the Taiwanese people have this resolve to resist, whether they have this dedication to defend their homes and country. So, this is a two-way street. Therefore, in answering this question, I believe it's not America's problem, but entirely the problem of the Taiwanese people themselves. If all Taiwanese politicians are defeatists who believe the war is lost before it even begins, then the United States will absolutely not be reliable. But it's not that we are unreliable; it's that you are unreliable to yourselves. That's right. So, looking at it this way, I think this is a consistent principle.

America's defense commitment to Taiwan, of course, there is no Mutual Defense Treaty. If there were a treaty, then of course there would be no problem at all. From 1955 to 1980, for several decades, the United States and Taiwan had a Mutual Defense Treaty. I have no doubt about this. After 1980, without a Mutual Defense Treaty, America's commitment to Taiwan's defense capabilities has been more serious, more solemn, and more profound than its commitment to any country in the world without a defense treaty. That is to say, through the Taiwan Relations Act and various executive orders, we have unhesitatingly strengthened Taiwan's defense capabilities. So, you see the arms sales, the military interactions with Taiwan, plus political protection for Taiwan, and the sale of advanced weapons. We do not have a Mutual Defense Treaty, unlike with Japan or NATO countries. Beyond that, the United States has not treated any other country in a comparable category to Taiwan with the same seriousness. This is because the defense of Taiwan is not only about protecting Taiwan's democracy, not only about protecting the Taiwanese people, but also about protecting American interests.

The CCP's aggression is not limited to Taiwan; the CCP's aggression is consistent. The nature of communism is aggression. Why? It must constantly create myths of victory and success. China talks about peace and peaceful coexistence all day long, but in reality, China is the most aggressive country. It has problems not only with Taiwan but also with Japan, Vietnam, India, and the Philippines. Such countries are very, very rare. Therefore, China's degree of aggression is completely consistent with its own Marxist-Leninist philosophy of governing the country and its foreign policy. Without understanding this, I believe there is a significant theoretical error in countering China's aggression. Hmm, that makes sense.

Pompeo's new book is Never Give an Inch, don't appease, fight back. Appeasement is completely wrong, stupid. You must stand on your own and help yourself to be helped by others, right? If Taiwan, indeed, some people all day long advocate surrenderism, so I often say Ma Ying-jeou is very impolite. His actions are not just surrender, they make it impossible for the CCP not to attack you. Why? He said that if you attack, it can be settled in one day, which is very dangerous. If the PLA keeps thinking this way, then the PLA will say, well, we have no choice but to attack. You make it sound like we have to attack, such people are annoying, really annoying. Mr. Cao, I once wrote an article discussing three major theories that affect Taiwan's national security, which are fallacies. One is the doubt-America theory, another is the cannon fodder theory, and the third is the Taiwan independence theory. Yes, all three are invalid. The doubt-America theory is not about doubting America; those who promote it actually doubt themselves. They lack confidence in themselves and instead say others won't protect me. I think this is a very absurd thing. The cannon fodder theory is that Taiwan is a pawn in the strategic competition between China and the US, a sacrifice. This is also very, very wrong. If everyone thinks this way, then the US government would have no allies. Is Japan a sacrifice? Are NATO countries sacrifices? These ideas have no new concepts and are complete nonsense. How can the US treat Taiwan as cannon fodder? The US has many ways to compete with the CCP. Taiwan is not the most critical part of the US-China competition, but it is a very important link in the CCP's chain of aggression. Taiwan independence is even more absurd. The CCP has always talked about Taiwan independence, Taiwan independence, Taiwan independence. According to the CCP's definition of Taiwan independence, all political parties in Taiwan, including the Kuomintang, are Taiwan independent because you participate in political operations independent of the CCP. You completely abandon the CCP's political system and seek your political future within your own country. The people of Taiwan seek their independent and autonomous votes, and this is Taiwan independence. Therefore, Taiwan independence is just a smokescreen for the CCP. It uses Taiwan independence to find an excuse for its aggression. In fact, I have been saying all along that the CCP, which separated from the Republic of China by armed rebellion in 1949, is the one that is 'CCP-independent.' They are the ones who rebelled. They are like Zhu Bajie (Pigsy) turning the tables and calling you Taiwan independent. This is a complete distortion of facts, isn't it? This is a fraud by the CCP against the Taiwanese people. The CCP's military might not be great, but its deception is very powerful. The CCP is an expert at confusing basic concepts and cognitive concepts. Look at what it says about human rights, country, etc. It has completely different interpretations. When we talk about human rights, it's different. It says human rights are the right to survival. Then it talks about terrorism. We oppose all forms of terrorism, but it has no fixed standard. You can't say the CCP lies, and you can't say it tells the truth. Because in the CCP's mode of operation and its cognitive philosophy, there is no difference between lies and truth. Therefore, it lies with great self-satisfaction, without moral self-condemnation or psychological barriers, so it speaks with great righteousness. The 35th anniversary of June Fourth is approaching. CCP leaders can say that no one was killed on June Fourth, and no one died in Tiananmen Square. The bigger the lie, the more people they think will believe them.

For a country to be independent and autonomous, the most fundamental factor is its possession of a national consciousness, the so-called sense of nationhood. Under what conditions can sovereignty be formed? The concepts of sovereignty and independence are not entirely formed by historical common roots, shared language, and common cultural traditions. If that were the case, the United States and the United Kingdom might be one country, and the United States would be a divided nation, which is incorrect. Because the formation of a country's sovereign consciousness is related to its way of life and how its government treats its people. That is to say, I can guarantee that our support for Ukraine and opposition to Russia's war of aggression is based on what? It is to support Ukraine's sovereignty and independence. The CCP's aggression against Taiwan follows the same logic as Russia's aggression against Ukraine. It denies Ukraine's independence and sovereignty, and the CCP likewise denies Taiwan's independence and sovereignty. When did Ukraine's sovereignty form? Not a few days ago, not formed by the common language between Ukraine and Russia in the Grand Duchy of Muscovy centuries ago. Ukraine's sovereignty was formed after the collapse of the Soviet Union; it is an independent, autonomous, and internationally recognized country. Its sovereignty can be said to have begun then, in the early 1990s, around 1992, in 1991-1992. Taiwan began to loosen up after 1988, and after continuous self-censorship by the Kuomintang, especially after the passage of the Taiwan Relations Act, the United States had a great influence on Taiwan. Therefore, even in the 1990s, starting with Lee Teng-hui, Taiwan, under a democratic system, had the time and conditions to form an independent sovereign state with a sense of sovereignty. Of course. So, in this context, if we are to speak out for the Ukrainian people with the same logic of defending Ukraine's sovereignty and independence, the United States and all justice-upholding democratic countries in the world should also recognize the independent and autonomous national consciousness that the Taiwanese people have formed since the 1990s. If we lack a realistic perspective and remain stuck in the Cold War era of the 1970s and 1980s, playing the China card, this is very dangerous and will only embolden the CCP's aggressive tendencies. I saw on Wikipedia that you have greatly influenced the changes in US policy, so your three major principles are: first, abandon playing the China card.