TX085 緊張状況下での台湾島民の反応

　今日のテキサス便りは、中国、台湾並び台湾友好国の両軍隊組織が大規模な軍事演習を繰り広げる中、台湾国民自身は、目前の防衛環境をどのようにとらえ、どう対処しようとしているのか、8月13日付で記載されたAFP通信の記事を取り上げました。過去77年も戦争・紛争を経験していない日本国民は、いまだにこうした現実を、 “対岸の火事 “としてとらえていないか、また、そういった国民感情を持ちやすい世代の日本を、今の日本の官僚たち（特に、外務省、防衛省）は、国防という重大な案件に対して、どのように導こうとしているのか、そんな質問がふっと頭の中をよぎりました。経済的利害関係を前提に、隣国（ロシア、中国、北朝鮮）の日本に対する脅威が、もっと現実味を帯びてきて、今の防衛体制に不信を抱いたとき、日本国民は、台湾人（下記の記事で語られたような）のように、したたかで、前向きな姿勢を持ち得るだろうか。

台湾の最前線にいる島民は、中国の戦争の脅威にも動じていない

Taiwan’s frontline islanders unfazed by beat of China war drum

By Amber WANG
Kinmen, Taiwan (AFP) Aug 13, 2022

　錆びついた戦車や上陸防止用スパイクが散乱する台湾の海岸からそう遠くない場所で、92歳の退役軍人ヤン・インシーさんは、新聞紙面を飾る敵の脅威を表意する新聞を読んでいる。中国大陸から数キロ離れた、楊（やん）さんの住む小さな金門島で、彼は故郷を脅かす軍事力を目の当たりにしている。北京は先週、ナンシー・ペロシ米下院議長が台湾の首都を訪問した後、怒りのあらしで、自国の領土と主張する民主主義国家の周辺で前例のない戦争ゲームを行った。中国軍の艦船が台湾海峡に点在し、ミサイルが台湾周辺海域に落下する中、紛争の危険性が頭をもたげてきたのである。しかし、楊斌氏は、中国の厦門市からわずか3.2キロ（2マイル）離れた人口14万人の島にもかかわらず、北京の戦争の太鼓の最新の音に動じない。「緊張はしていない。金門は穏やかで静かです」とAFP通信に語り、テレビを見たり、近所を散歩したりする朝の日課の合間に笑顔を見せた。楊さんは60年以上前、中国が台湾の島々を本土に近づけるために行った致命的な砲撃を目撃しており、今回の訓練はそれに比べれば雑魚だと言う。1958年、中国は金門とその周辺地域に100万発以上の砲弾を撃ち込み、618人が死亡、2,600人以上が負傷した。「1958年の砲撃はもっと緊張した。当時はもっと緊迫していた」と彼は言う。「中国が威嚇するつもりなのか、それとも攻撃するつもりなのか、状況を判断するのは難しい」。

-生活費を稼ぐためには。

　紛争の苦い記憶と現在の緊張にもかかわらず、金門住民の多くは、短い海域を越えて長年にわたり貿易や旅行で密接な関係を築いてきた中国に対して友好的な見方を持っています。台湾は19日に中国の都市へのフェリーサービスを停止したが、観光業に従事する34歳の楊尚林さんは、北京の妨害行為にもかかわらず、金門がすぐに中国人観光客に再開されることを願っていると語った。「台湾はもっと自由だし、中国に支配されたくはない」と彼は言う。「でも、生活していかなければならないんです」。しかし、金門の住民の中には、中国の侵略から祖国を守る覚悟のある者もおり、島の住民には溝がある。「戦争になれば、私は戦うでしょう」と、27歳の土木技師、黄志貞さんは言った。「私はこの国で生まれ、国が私を必要とするときには、どんな困難も乗り越えなければなりません」と、彼は建設プロジェクトの監督の合間にAFPに語った。

– 恐れない、けれども

　金門はかつて侵略を防ぐ天然の防壁として機能していたが、今や北京はミサイル、ジェット機、空母といった超大国の武器で簡単に迂回することができる。レンタカー会社で働く楊さんは、「軍事力の格差はあまりにも大きい」と考えており、金門の大きさや大陸との近さを考えると、台湾には中国の猛攻を打ち返す望みはほとんどない。特に金門の大きさと大陸に近いことを考えると。「勝てる見込みがない以上、戦場には行きたくない」と彼は言った。18歳の学生、ジェームス・チェンさんは、台湾の都市部で勉強や仕事をしていない数少ない同年代の一人で、戦闘はプロの兵士に任せるべきだと語った。「中国が台湾に対して武力を行使する可能性は五分五分だと思いますが、中国をコントロールすることはできないので、自分たちだけでやっていくべきだと思います。

　つまり、金門の生活はごく普通（通常どうりに）に営まれているのだ。住民は身を隠すためのバンカーや備蓄のためのスーパーマーケットに殺到するのではなく、家でカラオケを歌ったり、友人と外食したりしている。73歳の鄭秀華さんは、金門の静かな通りにある自宅の外で近所の人たちとカードゲームに興じながら、いつか中国軍が上陸してくる可能性を一蹴した。

　「いや、怖くはない。中国軍は来ませんよ」。もし、中国軍が攻めてきたら、紛争よりも平和的な統一を受け入れるという。数十年前に目の当たりにした砲撃から学んだ中国政府へのメッセージはこうだ。“戦争をするな。戦争は苦しみと不幸をもたらす。どちら側にも死がある。”

　下記2つの記事は、翻訳していませんが、8月12日、8月11日付けのAFP通信です。

Indonesia, US troops hold live-fire drill as China tensions mount

by AFP Staff Writers
Baturaja, Indonesia (AFP) Aug 12, 2022

Thousands of troops from Indonesia, the United States and allies held a live-fire drill Friday as part of what a top US general said was Washington’s efforts to prevent a regional conflict after China’s “destabilising actions” around Taiwan.

The United States and its Asian allies have expressed growing concern about China’s increasing assertiveness in the Pacific, but Washington said the drills were not aimed at any nation even though they were larger than previous training missions.

The exercise in Indonesia known as “Super Garuda Shield” came after Beijing staged unprecedented war games around Taiwan, which it claims as part of its territory, last week in a furious reaction to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the self-ruled democracy.

“The destabilising actions of the People’s Republic of China as applied to the threatening activities and actions against Taiwan is exactly what we are trying to avoid,” Admiral John Aquilino, head of the US Indo-Pacific Command, told a press conference after the drill.

China’s week-long air and sea exercises pushed tensions in the region to their highest level in years and raised the spectre of conflict in the Taiwan Strait.

“Everyday we are trying to prevent war,” said Aquilino.

At least 4,000 American and Indonesian soldiers were joined in the two-week exercise by forces from Australia and Singapore — as well as Japan, which is participating for the first time in the annual drills.

In Friday’s drill, only Australian and Singaporean forces joined the US and Indonesian troops.

Joint military forces fired Javelin anti-tank missiles while Apache helicopters staged manoeuvres, shooting rounds of machine gun fire and rockets into a hilly training area.

Indonesian army chief Andika Perkasa denied the expansion of the exercise was due to the situation in the Taiwan Strait, saying the drills had been planned long before that.

Aquilino, echoing Perkasa, said the annual exercises with other countries “continue to become more free-flowing and complex because all the nations in the region are getting better”.

Canada, France, India, Malaysia, South Korea, Papua New Guinea, East Timor, and Britain participated in the exercise as observer nations.

Taiwan holds military drill after China repeats threats

By Catherine LAI
Taipei (AFP) Aug 11, 2022

Taiwan’s army held another live-fire drill Thursday after Beijing ended its largest-ever military exercises around the island and repeated threats to bring the self-ruled democracy under its control.

Beijing has raged at a trip to Taiwan last week by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi — the highest-ranking elected American official to visit in decades — staging days of air and sea drills that raised tensions to their highest level in years.

Taiwan has accused China of using the Pelosi visit as an excuse to kickstart drills that would allow it to rehearse for an invasion.

Lou Woei-jye, spokesman for Taiwan’s Eighth Army Corps, told AFP its forces fired howitzers and target flares as part of the defensive drill on Thursday.

The exercise in Taiwan’s southernmost county Pingtung began at 08:30 am (0030 GMT) and lasted about an hour, he said.

Artillery tucked in from the coast was lined up side by side, with armed soldiers in units firing the howitzers out to sea one after the other, a live stream showed.

Taiwan held a similar drill on Tuesday in Pingtung. Both involved hundreds of troops, the military said.

The military has played down the exercises’ significance, saying they were already scheduled and were not in response to China’s war games.

“We have two goals for the drills, the first is to certify the proper condition of the artillery and their maintenance condition and the second is to confirm the results of last year,” Lou said, referring to annual drills.

Taiwan routinely stages military drills simulating defence against a Chinese invasion.

On Thursday, Taipei’s army said it detected 21 Chinese planes and six ships operating in the Taiwan Strait, without specifying if they were conducting operations.

Of those, 11 planes crossed the median line, an unofficial demarcation between China and Taiwan that Beijing does not recognise.

– ‘Prepare for war’ –

Taiwan’s president Tsai Ing-wen thanked troops in a visit to an air force command headquarters on Thursday.

“Right now, China’s military threat has not lessened,” she said in a statement posted on her Facebook page.

“I will reiterate, we will not escalate the conflict or cause disputes, we will firmly defend our sovereignty and national security, and defend the front line of democracy and freedom.”

Taiwan’s latest exercise came after China’s military indicated its own drills had come to an end Wednesday, saying its forces “successfully completed various tasks” in the Taiwan Strait while vowing to continue patrolling its waters.

But in the same announcement, China said that it would “continue to carry out military training and prepare for war”.

In a white paper published the same day, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said Beijing would “not renounce the use of force” against its neighbour and reserved “the option of taking all necessary measures”.

“We are ready to create vast space for peaceful reunification, but we will leave no room for separatist activities in any form,” it said in the paper.

China last issued a white paper on Taiwan in 2000.

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, the island’s top policymaking body on China, rejected the paper and said the document was “full of lies that are ‘wishful thinking and disregarding the facts'”.

Taiwan’s foreign ministry on Thursday joined the council in rebuffing the “one country, two systems” model that Beijing has proposed for the island.

“China’s whole statement absolutely goes against the cross-strait status quo and its reality,” ministry spokesperson Joanne Ou told a press conference.

“China is using US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit as an excuse to destroy the status quo and taking the opportunity to make trouble, attempting to create a new normal to intimidate the Taiwanese people.”

The Chinese Communist Party’s Taiwan Affairs Office said in a statement Thursday that Taipei’s “rebellious actions are just a slap in the face and cannot stop the historical trend of reunification” with mainland China.

Pelosi has stood by her visit, saying Wednesday she was “very proud” of her delegation and believed China had used her visit as a “pretext” to launch its military exercises.

“We will not allow China to isolate Taiwan,” Pelosi told reporters in Washington.

In response to the Chinese military revealing it was bringing drills to an end, Taiwan’s army said it would “adjust how we deploy our forces… without letting our guard down”.

Best regards,
Shoichi Sugiyama, Ph.D.