Why China still aims to crush Taiwan’s democracy
President Xi Jinping and the Communist Party will continue their political and military threats
Slightly more than 71%, or 14 million voters, went to the polls in Taiwan on Saturday. That was roughly 14 million more than voted for President Xi Jinping’s authoritarian government in China, where multiparty national elections are banned.
Even though the Communist Party’s “territorial” claim on the democratic island has no historical precedent, it did not stop Beijing from threatening Taiwan’s President-elect Lai Ching-te, who will take office in May.
He won slightly more than 40% of the vote on the Democratic Progressive Party ticket, ahead of the Kuomintang candidate Hou Yu-ih and Ko Wen-je of the Taiwan People’s Party.
The result triggered a wave of “disinformation” and propaganda in China’s state-owned media. “The reunification of China has always been the dream of people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait,” China Daily reported.
“This is the firm and clear policy of the Chinese government and strong aspiration of the Chinese people. If Lai truly wants to replace confrontation with dialogue, then this is the reality that must be faced,” it said on Monday.
Taiwan’s democracy has set a shining example to the world.
Stephen Hadley, the former US National Security Advisor
Facts not fiction:
- The Taiwanese people overwhelmingly reject unification with Communist-controlled China.
- Comrade Xi has no mandate from the Chinese people. Let alone from the citizens of Taiwan.
- Yet the “Chairman of Everything” has vowed to “reunite” the island with the mainland by force if necessary.
Delve deeper: “Taiwan’s democracy has set a shining example to the world,” former US National Security Advisor Stephen Hadley told Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen on Monday during a trip to Taipei.
Between the lines: “We reaffirm that the American commitment to Taiwan is rock solid, principled, and bipartisan and that the United States stands with its friends,” Hadley said.
Big picture: China’s state-owned Global Times blamed Washington for creating tension in the Taiwan Strait. Beijing “firmly opposes the US” from “interfering in Taiwan affairs,” the nationalist tabloid thundered.
China Factor comment: Xi and his Party cohorts will continue their political and military threats in a move to destroy Taiwan’s democracy. That must not be allowed to happen. Taipei cannot become the new Hong Kong.