When he still headed the Taiwan contract chip manufacturer United Microelectronics (UMC) in the 2000s, Robert Tsao (曹興誠) strongly advocated building business ties with China despite the opposition of Taiwan’s government at the time.

His company’s investment in the Chinese company He Jian Technology led to indictments and five years of litigation. Though UMC was eventually found not guilty of breach of trust and other violations, the case and its fallout drove Tsao to quit the company and relinquish his Republic of China (Taiwan) citizenship to become a Singaporean national.

During those years, he also proposed a “cross-Taiwan Strait peaceful coexistence law” and advocated a unification referendum that cemented his reputation as being “pro-China”.

Fast forward to today. At a press conference at the beginning of August, the 75-year-old Tsao pledged to donate NT$3 billion (US$100 million) to strengthen Taiwan’s defenses while urging Taiwanese to resist China and saying that “Communist China has the mentality and nature of local ruffians and gangsters.”

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Possibilities for uses of the NT$3 billion donation:

1. Promote national defense education, lift the morale of the people

2. Research and publish books and videos on countering China’s cognitive warfare against Taiwan 

3. Engage in activities aimed at exposing Communist China’s intimidation and United Front infiltration of Taiwan

4. Develop identification and tracking methods to keep hostile foreign forces from spreading controversial information in Taiwan

5. Develop ways to counter Communist Chinese cyberattacks and hacking activities 

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A retired UMC executive who has known Tsao for more than 20 years said Tsao soured on China and its anti-democratic stance after its suppression of Hong Kong’s democracy protests; he now sees Taiwan as being in the same boat. 

“Taiwan is facing the threat of military force or being blockaded, and Tsao is able to speak freely because he is unencumbered by any baggage,” the friend said.

In his interview with CommonWealth Magazine, Tsao said the turning point for him came in 2019, when he took part in the massive protests in Hong Kong triggered by a bill allowing extraditions to China that critics said eroded local Hong Kong’s civil liberties. Having experienced the turmoil, he said he felt “righteous indignation.” 

A veteran journalist confirmed that Tsao was not a “calculating person” but rather someone who reacted spontaneously to events and that the Hong Kong protests left a deep impression on him. 

From 2017 to 2019, Tsao sold three pieces from his personal collection of Chinese antiquities in Hong Kong that fetched some of the highest prices of any items auctioned by Sotheby’s during those years.

The three items earned him HK$715 million, or about NT$2.73 billion, roughly the same as the NT$3 billion he pledged to donate.

But outside the auction venue in October of 2019, the Hong Kong social movement was gaining momentum and erupted into violent protests, and students clashed with police in November. Tsao witnessed the entire ordeal, and “the hopes I had for Communist China were completely destroyed.” 

Here are excerpts from the interview with Tsao in which he explains the evolution of his thinking:

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CommonWealth Magazine: When you were in your 50s, you advocated a cross-Taiwan Strait peaceful coexistence law. You were branded by the Chen Shui-bian administration as a unification advocate and China sympathizer. Has your view of national identity changed, and what kind of process did that involve?

Robert Tsao: I was Chen Shui-bian’s national policy advisor before 2000 [when Chen became president]. Chen asked Lee Yuan-tseh (李遠哲) to form a task force to devise cross-Taiwan Strait policy. I advocated no longer using the term “one China” after the lifting of martial law, because the definition of “one China” meant that two enemies could not coexist; it was a declaration of civil war that required us to destroy the communist bandits.

But Taiwan’s abolition of the “period of national mobilization for suppression of the communist rebellion” meant that it did not want to engage in a civil war with Communist China. My suggestion was to have the mainland set conditions [for unification] and put them to a referendum in Taiwan to see if Taiwanese would agree. If the voters disagreed, it could try again another time.    

In fact, I was against unification. Unification runs against the tide! The tendency of civilization is toward division.  

Against unification, but for a unification referendum

Industrial civilization took off after World War II, and wealth could be created on its own without the need for war. That is a global trend. When a country no longer has to be a war machine, the government should re-engineer itself into a service-oriented institution. But China’s thinking remained stuck in a primitive age and was not keeping up with advances in civilization.

So how could we show wisdom in dealing with those who remained enamored with the myth of a unified system? I suggested using a referendum, but I would have voted against unification.

I’ve always opposed the communists and unification! In 2007 and 2008, I was just trying to promote peaceful coexistence across the Taiwan Strait.

But in 2019, the hopes I had for Communist China were completely destroyed.

That’s because the Hong Kong events showed that Communist China is completely irrational and that it twisted the idea of “Hong Kong people administering Hong Kong”. When students occupied the Legislative Council, Communist China cracked down on them and had gangsters indiscriminately attack them. Since then, I have publicly opposed the communists and done what I could to fight them, because I will not allow what happened in Hong Kong to repeat itself in Taiwan. I’m very angry.

2019: Witness to injustice in HK protests 

CW: Why did you react so strongly to the Hong Kong anti-extradition protests?

Tsao: I was in Hong Kong at the time. I’m a Hong Kong resident. I was with Hong Kongers on the street, and saw the whole situation occur from beginning to end. You asked me what changed. I’ll tell you: I witnessed the end of a free society grounded in the rule of law. Anyone would be “righteously indignant”. 

Many people think I only got agitated because [the turmoil] affected my personal interests, but when you see people being treated unfairly, of course you’re going to be angry.

CW: What would be the ideal status for Taiwan in the future? 

Tsao: Taiwan was independent to begin with. In March, I wrote an article advocating the “two-state theory” [that China and Taiwan are two separate states] and that Taiwan needed to protect itself.

I used to think that the CCP would turn over a new leaf, abandon its brutal and primitive mentality and move toward enlightenment. But since Xi Jinping has taken over, the primitive, anti-civilization mindset evident during the 10 years of the Cultural Revolution but hidden under the surface since then has never been thoroughly examined as it was in Germany, and the virus still lurks in the soul of the Communist Party.

This donation of NT$3 billion is aimed at fighting against that “virus”. The Chinese Communist Party is a zombie virus, and Taiwan is a key player on the front lines of countering the zombie virus, or at least in learning about and understanding it.

In the end, we all have the responsibility to be whistleblowers.

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Have you read?

• Maps: China’s 72-hour ‘Taiwan blockade’ 
• Military expert: Taiwan’s only defense lies in strength 
•  Pelosi’s Taiwan visit was a US-made crisis

Translated by Luke Sabatier
Uploaded by Ian Huang