With Taiwan having another presidential election next year, cross-strait relations is unlikely to make any progress until then. The reason for this is, of course, that the Chinese communist regime isn't about to give the ruling DPP a helping hand in getting re-elected, thereby giving the political camp that advocates "one country on each side [of the Taiwan Strait]" an opportunity to solidify Taiwanese nationalism.
However, Beijing must handle cross-strait relations with even more pragmatism. Otherwise, the cross-strait relationship will remain tense. Because of the difficulties the KMT and PFP are having in cooperating for the presidential election, the DPP may very well get re-elected next year. Therefore, the Beijing government should seek to understand the sentiments and perceptions of the Taiwanese with even more rationality and sincerity. Then its Taiwan policy won't be misguided by a small number of over-the-hill Taiwanese politicians, causing China's leaders to keep making absurd comments that are comical to the ears of Taiwanese.
Honestly speaking, Beijing's hope of winning support for cross-strait unification through inciting Chinese nationalism in Taiwan is doomed. This is because the Chinese communists' past mistakes and crimes have undermined Beijing's legal legitimacy and its right to rule the Chinese people. Irrespective of how good it may be at paying lip service to cross-strait issues, a regime that should not even rule China cannot inspire any sense of nationalism from the Taiwanese. Besides, no one wants to live under a regime that attaches no value to human lives and dignity. Having gone through the harsh lessons of the 228 Incident and White Terror, Taiwanese know only too well about such pains.
Some members of Taiwan's media have long regarded the political orientation of the Taiwanese as roughly divided into three groups. The first group includes advocates of independence, such as those of the Taiwan Independence Party. Under no circumstances will they ever accept an alien regime. The second group includes advocates of independence who oppose communism. So long as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) is in power, they will oppose cross-strait unification until the end. The third group includes those who advocate cross-strait unification. In Taiwan, without any question, there are a lot more people in the first two groups than those in the third group. This is supported by the fact that the pro-independent DPP has been voted into power both in a majority of the county and city governments and the central government.
So, the truth is quite apparent. The main momentum behind the Taiwanese decision to become independent is actually the CCP. The CCP should face up to the reality that most Taiwanese will never ever accept it. They have no one to blame for this but themselves, for they have brought it onto themselves. So Beijing must no longer misjudge the situation, erroneously believing that only a small number of people in Taiwan oppose unification with China. The development of cross-strait relations can become productive only when it is built on an accurate understanding of reality.
As it has striven toward superiority in most measures of the Asian military balance, China is now ready to challenge the undersea balance of power, long dominated by the United States, a decisive advantage crucial to its ability to deter blockade and invasion of Taiwan by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). America expended enormous treasure to develop the technology, logistics, training, and personnel to emerge victorious in the Cold War undersea struggle against the former Soviet Union, and to remain superior today; the US is not used to considering the People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN)
The annual summit of East Asia and other events around the ASEAN summit in October and November every year have become the most important gathering of leaders in the Indo-Pacific region. This year, as Laos is the chair of ASEAN, it was privileged to host all of the ministerial and summit meetings associated with ASEAN. Besides the main summit, this included the high-profile East Asia Summit, ASEAN summits with its dialogue partners and the ASEAN Plus Three Summit with China, Japan and South Korea. The events and what happens around them have changed over the past 15 years from a US-supported, ASEAN-led
Lately, China has been inviting Taiwanese influencers to travel to China’s Xinjiang region to make films, weaving a “beautiful Xinjiang” narrative as an antidote to the international community’s criticisms by creating a Potemkin village where nothing is awry. Such manipulations appear harmless — even compelling enough for people to go there — but peeling back the shiny veneer reveals something more insidious, something that is hard to ignore. These films are not only meant to promote tourism, but also harbor a deeper level of political intentions. Xinjiang — a region of China continuously listed in global human rights reports —
President William Lai’s (賴清德) first Double Ten National Day address had two strategic goals. For domestic affairs, the speech aimed to foster consensus on national identity, strengthen the country and unite the Taiwanese against a Chinese invasion. In terms of cross-strait relations, the speech aimed to mitigate tensions in the Taiwan Strait and promote the coexistence and prosperity of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in China and the Republic of China (ROC). Lai is taking a different stance from previous Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) administrations on domestic political issues. During his speech, he said: “The PRC could not be the
RSS