China will refuse to recognize Taiwan’s new president
Beijing plans to refer to Tsai Ing-wen’s successor as the ‘chief executive’ in major propaganda campaign
China is ramping up its propaganda push on Taiwan by refusing to acknowledge the island democracy’s presidential election on January 13.
Instead, the world’s most populated autocracy will refer to Tsai Ing-wen’s successor as “chief executive” while escalating military and political pressure.
“Nothing is being left to chance to remind the world that Beijing sees Taiwan as a province of the People’s Republic of China,” Intelligence Online revealed earlier this week.
“Chinese Communist Party propaganda is set to launch a campaign to have the island’s president referred to as the ‘chief executive of Taiwan’,” it said.
Big red bully:
- Communist-ruled China considers Taiwan a renegade province and has threatened to take the island by force if necessary.
- Taipei’s political parties, such as the Democratic Progressive Party or DPP, have made it clear that it is up to the people to decide their fate.
- In response, China’s virtual dictator Xi Jinping has warned of military action in a move to crush democracy.
- The People’s Liberation Army Navy has stepped up massive exercises in the Taiwan Strait and the broader South China Sea during the past two years.
Taiwan is taking measures to counter China’s interference.
Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu
Delve deeper: Taipei is already closely monitoring Beijing’s interference in elections next week, with China branding Vice-President Lai Ching-te a “dangerous separatist.”
Between the lines: Lai is the presidential front-runner and the firm favorite to succeed out-going Tsai, who has served two terms in office.
What they said: “Taiwan is taking measures to counter China’s interference and is documenting its experiences,” Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu wrote in the latest issue of The Economist, without giving details.
Big picture: “Should China succeed in shaping the outcome of voting in Taiwan, it will apply the same tactics to other democracies to promote its preferred international order,” Wu said.
China Factor comment: Comrade Xi and his Communist Party cronies have cast the election as a choice between war and peace by “hyping up” China’s military muscle. They must not be allowed to succeed.