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.”
Kehinde Sanni spends his days smoothing out dents and repainting scratched bumpers in a modest autobody shop in Lagos. He has never left Nigeria, yet he speaks glowingly of Burkina Faso military leader Ibrahim Traore. “Nigeria needs someone like Ibrahim Traore of Burkina Faso. He is doing well for his country,” Sanni said. His admiration is shaped by a steady stream of viral videos, memes and social media posts — many misleading or outright false — portraying Traore as a fearless reformer who defied Western powers and reclaimed his country’s dignity. The Burkinabe strongman swept into power following a coup in September 2022
‘FRAGMENTING’: British politics have for a long time been dominated by the Labor Party and the Tories, but polls suggest that Reform now poses a significant challenge Hard-right upstarts Reform UK snatched a parliamentary seat from British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s Labor Party yesterday in local elections that dealt a blow to the UK’s two establishment parties. Reform, led by anti-immigrant firebrand Nigel Farage, won the by-election in Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England by just six votes, as it picked up gains in other localities, including one mayoralty. The group’s strong showing continues momentum it built up at last year’s general election and appears to confirm a trend that the UK is entering an era of multi-party politics. “For the movement, for the party it’s a very, very big
ENTERTAINMENT: Rio officials have a history of organizing massive concerts on Copacabana Beach, with Madonna’s show drawing about 1.6 million fans last year Lady Gaga on Saturday night gave a free concert in front of 2 million fans who poured onto Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro for the biggest show of her career. “Tonight, we’re making history... Thank you for making history with me,” Lady Gaga told a screaming crowd. The Mother Monster, as she is known, started the show at about 10:10pm local time with her 2011 song Bloody Mary. Cries of joy rose from the tightly packed fans who sang and danced shoulder-to-shoulder on the vast stretch of sand. Concert organizers said 2.1 million people attended the show. Lady Gaga
SUPPORT: The Australian prime minister promised to back Kyiv against Russia’s invasion, saying: ‘That’s my government’s position. It was yesterday. It still is’ Left-leaning Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday basked in his landslide election win, promising a “disciplined, orderly” government to confront cost-of-living pain and tariff turmoil. People clapped as the 62-year-old and his fiancee, Jodie Haydon, who visited his old inner Sydney haunt, Cafe Italia, surrounded by a crowd of jostling photographers and journalists. Albanese’s Labor Party is on course to win at least 83 seats in the 150-member parliament, partial results showed. Opposition leader Peter Dutton’s conservative Liberal-National coalition had just 38 seats, and other parties 12. Another 17 seats were still in doubt. “We will be a disciplined, orderly
RSS