Pariah States Triumph Against the Ddds

  There are two pariah states on the globe; that is, nations that are routinely criticized and censured.  One is Israel and the other is Taiwan.  Both states are roughly 60 years old, economic powerhouses, democratic and targets at the United Nations. Both owe their existence to President Harry Truman.

The Republic of China organized a full scale war of resistance against Japanese aggression in 1937.  After the attack on Pearl Harbor, the Republic of China followed the U.S. and Britain in declaring war on Japan.

At the end of the war, it was stipulated that all former Republic of China territories that had been colonized by Japan had to be returned. These included Manchuria, Formosa and Pescadores.

After losing control of the mainland in 1949 to the forces of communism, the Republic of China government relocated to Taipei. In 1950, President Truman said at a press conference that those territories stolen from China should be restored to the Republic of China, including Formosa.  These statements made at Potsdam and reiterated in subsequent years gave legitimacy to the claim of Formosa as the Republic of China and challenged the communist contention that Formosa is merely a breakaway renegade province.

Similarly, the United Nations, sought to redress legal arguments for a homeland for those who claimed that Jews were systematically killed and persecuted by the Nazi regime. The U.N was also eager to redress several Middle Eastern claims. They therefore established two states in the region: Israel and Transjordan.  But Arab nations would not accept a Jewish state in what was said to be "their region."

In the war that ensued, Israel fought to retain her borders and in the end prevailed.  But Arab states continue to remain in a state of war and are unwilling to recognize the state of Israel as a legitimate sovereign nation. 

While China employs its U.N. influence to keep Taiwan out of the international organization, Israel—a state formed by the U.N.—is invariably censured for its policies, even when those policies are consistent with provisions in the U.N. Charter.

Yet despite the impediments that stand in the way, both nations have employed their technical prowess to defend themselves and to emerge as economic strongholds.  An area outside of Tel Aviv is known as the Second Silicon Valley and the Science Park in Taipei has become an incubator for products distributed all over the Asian continent and beyond.

While scientific advances have been the bulwark for the economy, military strength has served as a barrier against hostile designs.  In the case of Israeli it is difficult to see how a nation of 6 million can prevail against 275 million hostile neighbors. Similarly, one wonders how Taiwan would fare with its 23 million people arrayed against 1.3 billion on the mainland.  Yet neither Israel nor Taiwan is intimidated by threats or by the tacit and implicit rejection within the corridors of the U.N.

These two relatively small states serve as examples that occasionally international law serves a purpose other than great power demands— notwithstanding a U.S. umbrella standing as a defense shield against putative enemies.

In a post modern world where Europe is being consolidated, Asia is preoccupied with an imperial China and America's influence is largely undiminished, it should be exhilarating to know that two little states that apply all the principles others only give lip service to, can survive and prosper.

Perhaps those Jewish prayers installed in the Wall of the Holy Temple and the Buddhist ritual to discover your fate by dropping wooden blocks and then finding sayings comparable to numbers selected, actually work.  How else can one explain the success of these remarkable places in a veritable sea of hostile neighbors?