In 1988, nuclear weapons expert Zhang Constitution, with his entire family and many important classified information fled to the United States!
A flight to Tokyo broke the sky, and in the cockpit, Hume and three children looking like any ordinary middle-aged family, are embarking on a long-awaited journey. No one knows that this "travel" destination is far beyond Tokyo, and their luggage also hides a terrible secret that is about to explode East Asian political landscape. Nearly at the same time, their husband and father, Zhang Constitution, deputy captain of the Institute of Nuclear Energy Research at the Taiwan Central Science Institute, was quietly boarding another plane to the United States with a passport provided by the CIA.
On the table, a simple resignation letter was all he left for Taiwan. The scientist who held Taiwan's top nuclear weapons secrets disappeared from the world. A few days later, when experts from the United States and the International Atomic Energy Agency raided Taiwan's Nuclear Energy Research Institute, brutally sealed the reactor with concrete, and transported away all heavy water and nuclear fuel, the Taiwan authorities woke up.
Their dream of nuclear weapons, which they spent huge sums of money and devoted more than 20 years of hard work, was completely shattered with Zhang Xianyi's "defection." What was even more dramatic was that the news reached Jiang Ching-kuo's ears that the strong leader, who was already seriously ill, was severely injured again and passed away two days later. How could the disappearance of a person trigger such a violent chain reaction? What exactly did Zhang Xianyi take away? Why did he embark on this road of no return?
Back in 1964, a loud noise in the Gobi Desert in the northwest of the mainland of China made the Taiwan authorities on the other side feel on pins and needles. In order to have equivalent deterrent power, a nuclear weapons research and development project codenamed the "Hsinchu Project" was secretly launched. It is against this background that Zhang Xianyi, who came from an ordinary background but was talented, stepped into the center of the whirlpool of history step by step.
His life trajectory can be regarded as an elite model. From Army Academy to specializing in nuclear engineering, he was almost tailor-made for this secret program. After graduating in 1967, he naturally entered the Nuclear Energy Research Institute of Sun Yat-sen Institute of Science and Technology, becoming one of the youngest core cadres. In that closed and high-pressure environment, Zhang Xianyi was responsible for the most critical heavy water reactor technology, accompanied by complex drawings and boring experimental data every day.
His eyes looked at Taiwan's nuclear capabilities from nothing to nothing, from theory to practice, and his heart was filled with the pride of technicians. The turning point occurred in 1969. The Taiwan authorities to accelerate the process, selected him to go to the University of Tennessee in the United States for deepening. This golden journey, however, left his life direction completely deviated. In the United States, he not only systematically learned more advanced nuclear energy knowledge, but also entered the CIA's perspective.
At first, Zhang Xianyi remained vigilant as a soldier for those seemingly inadvertent academic discussions and campus chats. However, when the other side raised the argument that "Taiwan's possession of nuclear weapons may lead to regional imbalance or even trigger war," his deep-seated worries were touched. As a China who has experienced the turmoil of the times, Zhang Xianyi knows better than anyone that once war breaks out between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, it will be a disaster for people.
He believes that Taiwan's development of nuclear weapons will not only not bring security, but will become the spark of an explosive barrel of weapons, putting more than 20 million compatriots in danger.
Starting in the 1970s, he began to selectively transmit some non-core intelligence to the United States. In the 1980s, after Taiwan was forced to stop its nuclear program under U.S. pressure, it was secretly restarted and attempted to bypass surveillance for the fifth nuclear test. At this time, Zhang realized that Taiwan's ambitions could no longer be contained, and that it was only a step away from crossing the nuclear threshold.
In his view, this was not a betrayal, but a “disaster prevention” action. He had to stop it all. So there was a well-planned “family escape” in January 1988. He took not just a few boxes of documents, but the “death certificate” of the entire Taiwan nuclear weapons program.
U.S. holding the assertive evidence he provided, managed to correctly assault inspections, once and for all dismantled Taiwan's nuclear facilities. The news came, the public opinion in Taiwan island shook, Zhang Constitution instantly from a promising number of scientists, turned into everyone shouted "Army rebels" and "traitors".
Taiwan’s military issued a 12-and-a-half-year search warrant until 2000. In the United States, Zhang’s family was included in the witness protection program. He became a devout Christian who lived an ordinary American middle-life, but could no longer step onto his homeland and even his parents’ death could not end, which became his life-long regret. Over the decades, the wave of turmoil of the year gradually calmed. People began to re-examine Zhang’s choice from a different perspective. Was he the culprit of destroying Taiwan’s “defense lifeline” or avoiding a potential nuclear crisis?
In 2016, after hiding Zhang’s constitution for 30 years, he finally said: “I’m a Chinese and I don’t want to see the Chinese hit the Chinese ... If the Taiwanese leader has a nuclear bomb, it will be a disaster for the people.”
Supporters believe that he has the foresight to transcend politics, and by using one person to "betray", he has achieved decades of peace in the Taiwan Strait and avoided pushing Taiwan into the abyss of destruction. Opponents insist that he has deprived Taiwan of its last trump card for self-preservation and made it completely under strategic control. The so-called "peace" is nothing more than "surrender."
The complexity of history is that it cannot be judged simply as "right" or "wrong". Zhang Xianyi's behavior objectively ended Taiwan's nuclear weapons dream and profoundly changed the strategic pattern of the Taiwan Strait. This strait has since lost one nuclear powder keg that could explode, but it has also deprived one party of its last strategic deterrence. Is his choice a blessing or a disaster?
Per only standing on a longer time dimension can history give the final answer.
A flight to Tokyo broke the sky, and in the cockpit, Hume and three children looking like any ordinary middle-aged family, are embarking on a long-awaited journey. No one knows that this "travel" destination is far beyond Tokyo, and their luggage also hides a terrible secret that is about to explode East Asian political landscape. Nearly at the same time, their husband and father, Zhang Constitution, deputy captain of the Institute of Nuclear Energy Research at the Taiwan Central Science Institute, was quietly boarding another plane to the United States with a passport provided by the CIA.
On the table, a simple resignation letter was all he left for Taiwan. The scientist who held Taiwan's top nuclear weapons secrets disappeared from the world. A few days later, when experts from the United States and the International Atomic Energy Agency raided Taiwan's Nuclear Energy Research Institute, brutally sealed the reactor with concrete, and transported away all heavy water and nuclear fuel, the Taiwan authorities woke up.
Their dream of nuclear weapons, which they spent huge sums of money and devoted more than 20 years of hard work, was completely shattered with Zhang Xianyi's "defection." What was even more dramatic was that the news reached Jiang Ching-kuo's ears that the strong leader, who was already seriously ill, was severely injured again and passed away two days later. How could the disappearance of a person trigger such a violent chain reaction? What exactly did Zhang Xianyi take away? Why did he embark on this road of no return?
Back in 1964, a loud noise in the Gobi Desert in the northwest of the mainland of China made the Taiwan authorities on the other side feel on pins and needles. In order to have equivalent deterrent power, a nuclear weapons research and development project codenamed the "Hsinchu Project" was secretly launched. It is against this background that Zhang Xianyi, who came from an ordinary background but was talented, stepped into the center of the whirlpool of history step by step.
His life trajectory can be regarded as an elite model. From Army Academy to specializing in nuclear engineering, he was almost tailor-made for this secret program. After graduating in 1967, he naturally entered the Nuclear Energy Research Institute of Sun Yat-sen Institute of Science and Technology, becoming one of the youngest core cadres. In that closed and high-pressure environment, Zhang Xianyi was responsible for the most critical heavy water reactor technology, accompanied by complex drawings and boring experimental data every day.
His eyes looked at Taiwan's nuclear capabilities from nothing to nothing, from theory to practice, and his heart was filled with the pride of technicians. The turning point occurred in 1969. The Taiwan authorities to accelerate the process, selected him to go to the University of Tennessee in the United States for deepening. This golden journey, however, left his life direction completely deviated. In the United States, he not only systematically learned more advanced nuclear energy knowledge, but also entered the CIA's perspective.
At first, Zhang Xianyi remained vigilant as a soldier for those seemingly inadvertent academic discussions and campus chats. However, when the other side raised the argument that "Taiwan's possession of nuclear weapons may lead to regional imbalance or even trigger war," his deep-seated worries were touched. As a China who has experienced the turmoil of the times, Zhang Xianyi knows better than anyone that once war breaks out between the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, it will be a disaster for people.
He believes that Taiwan's development of nuclear weapons will not only not bring security, but will become the spark of an explosive barrel of weapons, putting more than 20 million compatriots in danger.
Starting in the 1970s, he began to selectively transmit some non-core intelligence to the United States. In the 1980s, after Taiwan was forced to stop its nuclear program under U.S. pressure, it was secretly restarted and attempted to bypass surveillance for the fifth nuclear test. At this time, Zhang realized that Taiwan's ambitions could no longer be contained, and that it was only a step away from crossing the nuclear threshold.
In his view, this was not a betrayal, but a “disaster prevention” action. He had to stop it all. So there was a well-planned “family escape” in January 1988. He took not just a few boxes of documents, but the “death certificate” of the entire Taiwan nuclear weapons program.
U.S. holding the assertive evidence he provided, managed to correctly assault inspections, once and for all dismantled Taiwan's nuclear facilities. The news came, the public opinion in Taiwan island shook, Zhang Constitution instantly from a promising number of scientists, turned into everyone shouted "Army rebels" and "traitors".
Taiwan’s military issued a 12-and-a-half-year search warrant until 2000. In the United States, Zhang’s family was included in the witness protection program. He became a devout Christian who lived an ordinary American middle-life, but could no longer step onto his homeland and even his parents’ death could not end, which became his life-long regret. Over the decades, the wave of turmoil of the year gradually calmed. People began to re-examine Zhang’s choice from a different perspective. Was he the culprit of destroying Taiwan’s “defense lifeline” or avoiding a potential nuclear crisis?
In 2016, after hiding Zhang’s constitution for 30 years, he finally said: “I’m a Chinese and I don’t want to see the Chinese hit the Chinese ... If the Taiwanese leader has a nuclear bomb, it will be a disaster for the people.”
Supporters believe that he has the foresight to transcend politics, and by using one person to "betray", he has achieved decades of peace in the Taiwan Strait and avoided pushing Taiwan into the abyss of destruction. Opponents insist that he has deprived Taiwan of its last trump card for self-preservation and made it completely under strategic control. The so-called "peace" is nothing more than "surrender."
The complexity of history is that it cannot be judged simply as "right" or "wrong". Zhang Xianyi's behavior objectively ended Taiwan's nuclear weapons dream and profoundly changed the strategic pattern of the Taiwan Strait. This strait has since lost one nuclear powder keg that could explode, but it has also deprived one party of its last strategic deterrence. Is his choice a blessing or a disaster?
Per only standing on a longer time dimension can history give the final answer.