The older bull whale had died after becoming beached on the southwestern coast of Taiwan, and it had taken more than 13 hours, three large cranes, and 50 workers to shift the beached sperm whale onto the back of a truck.

While the whale was being moved, the website of the newspaper Taiwan News, reported that “a large crowd of more than 600 local Yunlin residents and curiosity seekers, along with vendors selling snack food and hot drinks, braved the cold temperature and chilly wind to watch workmen try to haul away the dead marine leviathan”. Professor Wang Chien-ping had ordered the whale be moved to the Sutsao Wild Life Reservation Area after he had been refused permission to perform a post-mortem at the National Cheng Kung University in Tainan. The whale was being transported on the back of a truck through the center of Tainan from the university laboratory to the preserve when the explosion occurred. Although the explosion was spectacular, it did not stop researchers from performing a post-mortem on the animal.

The explosion was reported to have splattered blood and whale entrails over surrounding shop-fronts, bystanders, and cars. BBC News Online interviewed an unnamed Taiwanese local who said, “What a stinking mess. This blood and other stuff that blew out on the road is disgusting, and the smell is really awful.”

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Beijing’s strategy is clear and autocratic in its behavior of neighboring states. Currently now there are only 26 countries left in the world that recognize Taiwan’s full diplomatic recognition as a nation. The numbers are getting less due to China’s economic boom and influence around the world. We have already seen in the last year a slight shift in the Yuan resulted in chaos in our money markets overseas, and put at risk our financial markets to the rest of the world. There is only one Saviour that can come to Taiwan’s aid and that is the United States. Without her Taiwan is finished.

The question remains, should Taiwan be an integral part of the Chinese system? We know that the Taiwanese are in fact Chinese by culture, that Taiwan’s trade with China stands in excess of 2.2 billion U.S. dollars, about half of the $4.2 billion that the rest of the world has invested in Taiwan. Should Taiwan put the past behind her and “marry” the mega economy for its own prosperity including its prosperity with the rest of the world? These questions and more should go to the general Taiwanese people themselves. They were after all the victims of a repressed and autocratic and brutal regime, and tried to stop communism. Can the Taiwanese live with a marriage of convenience much like the smaller states of Hongkong, Macao, Tibet? The Taiwanese have enjoyed freedom from its neighbor for some time now, and they continue to enjoy there own culture and freedoms. Therefore having a taste of life away from the dominant specter of the dragon, can Taiwan live with the directives from Beijing.? I hardly think so. Therefore it is only prudent that Taiwan defend itself and build long term economic markets that ensures diversity and maintains long term sustainability. It must be able to defend its waterways and trade routes, and look at smarter initiatives that keeps China and the mainland at arms length. Taiwan has no choice but to build a significant deterrent to its threatening neighbor and must remain strong to counter the overwhelming military threat from the North.