Beijing has said that anyone seeking to keep Taiwan separate from China would “leave a stink for 10,000 years” in its strongest remarks since the re-election of President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文), who opposes unification with China.
On Monday, while on a tour in Africa, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said: “The unification of the two sides of the [Taiwan] Strait is a historical inevitability,” the official Xinhua news agency reported.
He described those going against this trend as bound to “stink for 10,000 years,” an idiom to say one will “go down in infamy.”
Photo: AFP
Tsai’s landslide electoral victory on Saturday has been embarrassing for China, where state media spent most of the past year isolating Taiwan on the diplomatic stage, deriding Tsai and highlighting the popularity of her opponent, Kaohsiung Mayor Han Kuo-yu (韓國瑜), of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), which is pro-China.
Her win, after a campaign that leaned heavily on Hong Kong as a cautionary tale for Taiwan, is widely seen as a repudiation of Beijing’s attempts to draw Taiwan into its fold through military intimidation, economic incentives, cultural exchanges and other means.
Beijing has sought to downplay the election results, which also saw the Democratic Progressive Party maintain its majority in the legislature, giving Tsai’s administration a stronger mandate over the next four years.
In an editorial on Sunday, Xinhua said Tsai’s party had used “dirty tactics,” including fake news, repression and intimidation.
Chinese commentators said Tsai had “won by fear,” while the Global Times blamed infighting within the KMT.
“Yet no matter how much uncertainty there is across the Strait, the fact that the Chinese mainland is getting increasingly stronger and the Taiwan island is getting weaker is an inevitable reality,” an editorial late on Saturday said.
This week, authorities have tried to highlight the struggles Taiwanese would suffer under the DPP.
Yesterday, the international version of the People’s Daily, the mouthpiece of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), criticized the DPP for focusing on politics rather than Taiwan’s struggling economy, a common argument made by Beijing and pro-China groups in Taiwan that closer ties would help wage and job growth.
“The people of Taiwan must tighten their belts and continue to live a hard life,” the paper said.
State media have also accused “external dark forces,” such as the US, an ally of Taiwan’s, of having a hand in the election.
Experts have said China is likely to double down on its strategy of punishing Taiwan.
During Tsai’s first term, Beijing cut off a dialogue mechanism, independent travel to Taiwan, and persuaded several of Taiwan’s few remaining allies to switch diplomatic recognition.
In her victory speech on Saturday, Tsai said that she was committed to maintaining peaceful cross-strait relations, but said it was a responsibility to be borne by “both sides.”
“China must abandon threats of force against Taiwan,” she said. “Democratic Taiwan and our democratically elected government will not concede to threats and intimidation.”
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