The day after President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) returned from her most recent overseas state visit, El Salvador severed diplomatic ties with Taiwan and switched allegiance to China. The timing was clearly carefully chosen by Beijing as part of its ongoing psychological war against Taiwan.
This shows that Beijing was nervous about Tsai’s overseas visit and fears an improving US-Taiwan relationship. It also exposes China’s lack of mental toughness. Conversely, the Taiwanese public has grown up under China’s threat and is used to Beijing’s games, so after the news broke, the stock market continued its rally and even closed at the day’s high.
Beijing’s suppression of Taiwan has reached previously unseen levels, which shows that China is under increasing domestic and international pressure. This is why Beijing is so fidgety and eager to divert the Chinese public’s attention and create a sense of unity. The source of Beijing’s troubles is a trade war with the US, which is shaking the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) to its core and even makes Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) position uncertain.
The party’s upper echelons have split into two groups. In the first group are the officials running the economy who must address the trade war and China’s domestic financial crisis in a pragmatic fashion — they want an end to boastful rhetoric and an eye-for-an-eye approach in dealing with US tariffs.
The second faction consists of officials who are not involved in economic matters, but are pumping out revolutionary slogans. They are working hard to uphold Xi as the “core of the party” and primarily belong to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Taiwan Affairs Office, the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office and the liaison office in Hong Kong. They are boot-licking Xi sycophants promoting extreme-leftist policies.
However, they fail to understand that foreign policy is a continuation of domestic policy. How could a hardline, expansionist foreign policy not step on the US’ toes? How could their crude Taiwan policy not rile its main backer, the US? Did they really expect Washington to roll over if they poached Taiwan’s diplomatic allies in the US’ backyard?
Taiwan has remained unmoved by China’s suppression. Tsai has been careful to sound reasonable and tap into the international community to expose China’s expansionist designs. The government’s strategy is not just to quietly thwart the enemy, but to slowly drive China mad.
Taipei’s firmness, tenacity, rationality and refusal to engage in a war of words with Beijing have given China’s leaders an opportunity to incite violence against Taiwan. This is pushing Chinese nationalist groups into a frenzy, becoming increasingly irrational and betraying China’s weaknesses. Their near hysteria proves the adage that the those whom the gods would destroy, they first drive mad.
However, do not mistake the government’s calmness for inaction. The Executive Yuan has been working on improving the economy by addressing the “five shortages” (land, water, power, talent and workers), attracting investment in order to break free of the Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) and CCP’s “greater China economic circle” and addressing low salaries and unaffordable housing for young people. The government has also begun to eliminate the security threat posed by Chinese espionage.
Although there is still much work to be done, progress is continuous. This is how Tsai wants to strengthen Taiwan’s internal momentum within her grand strategy of maintaining the “status quo.” Faced with humiliation and threatened annexation by China, self-respecting Taiwanese from all walks of life should work together to protect Taiwan.
Paul Lin is a media commentator.
Translated by Edward Jones
Saudi Arabian largesse is flooding Egypt’s cultural scene, but the reception is mixed. Some welcome new “cooperation” between two regional powerhouses, while others fear a hostile takeover by Riyadh. In Cairo, historically the cultural capital of the Arab world, Egyptian Minister of Culture Nevine al-Kilany recently hosted Saudi Arabian General Entertainment Authority chairman Turki al-Sheikh. The deep-pocketed al-Sheikh has emerged as a Medici-like patron for Egypt’s cultural elite, courted by Cairo’s top talent to produce a slew of forthcoming films. A new three-way agreement between al-Sheikh, Kilany and United Media Services — a multi-media conglomerate linked to state intelligence that owns much of
The US and other countries should take concrete steps to confront the threats from Beijing to avoid war, US Representative Mario Diaz-Balart said in an interview with Voice of America on March 13. The US should use “every diplomatic economic tool at our disposal to treat China as what it is... to avoid war,” Diaz-Balart said. Giving an example of what the US could do, he said that it has to be more aggressive in its military sales to Taiwan. Actions by cross-party US lawmakers in the past few years such as meeting with Taiwanese officials in Washington and Taipei, and
The Republic of China (ROC) on Taiwan has no official diplomatic allies in the EU. With the exception of the Vatican, it has no official allies in Europe at all. This does not prevent the ROC — Taiwan — from having close relations with EU member states and other European countries. The exact nature of the relationship does bear revisiting, if only to clarify what is a very complicated and sensitive idea, the details of which leave considerable room for misunderstanding, misrepresentation and disagreement. Only this week, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) received members of the European Parliament’s Delegation for Relations
Denmark’s “one China” policy more and more resembles Beijing’s “one China” principle. At least, this is how things appear. In recent interactions with the Danish state, such as applying for residency permits, a Taiwanese’s nationality would be listed as “China.” That designation occurs for a Taiwanese student coming to Denmark or a Danish citizen arriving in Denmark with, for example, their Taiwanese partner. Details of this were published on Sunday in an article in the Danish daily Berlingske written by Alexander Sjoberg and Tobias Reinwald. The pretext for this new practice is that Denmark does not recognize Taiwan as a state under