China Taiwan: Beijing really doesn’t like Taiwan’s new president

The song of denunciation of President Lai has been unwaveringly sharp, from the state broadcaster CCTV and the Global Times editorial pages to the foreign ministry director.

The Global Times had now cast him while “arrogant” and “reckless”, and CCTV wrote that he” will surely get nailed to the wall of sorrow in history” and lambasted him for” selling the two- nation theory”. Additionally, it warned that if Mr. Lai and his Democratic Progressive Party ( DPP ) “persist in their doomed path of Taiwan independence,” they will ultimately” crash and burn.”

President Lai’s alleged crime is that in his inauguration speech on Monday he used the word China to describe China, Beijing says that in doing so Mr Lai revealed his true thinking that Taiwan is not China, and they are two different countries. It is, in their eyes, an admission of his “separatist” ideology.

This may seem ironic to non-believers. However, Beijing and Taipei have fudged their explanations of China and whether Taiwan is a part of it for decades. Even Tsai, a former president, used euphemistic expressions to refer to China when referring to” the Beijing authorities” or” the other side of the strait.”

Some Taiwanese academics will tell you that Mr. Lai has crossed a risky line because of how important speech is. Some claim that Beijing’s hatred for him was now rooted in stone, and that his talk was all but used as a facetious justification for the most recent intimidation.

Most people in Taiwan are of the opinion that it does n’t change the fundamental fact that Xi Jinping wants China to rule Taiwan, and that the people of Taiwan do not.

But no- one in Taiwan is mainly surprised. To them, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP ) is rather predictable. Many people were wondering how and when Beijing would react when Mr. Lai’s DPP won a second consecutive presidential election here in January.

It was assumed that it would happen after Mr. Lai’s second national address, which was the ostensible assumption. So here we are, three weeks after President Lai’s opening, and Beijing has issued a reply.

The planning serves as the main indicator that none of this is unexpected. No military, not even the People’s Liberation Army ( PLA ), can mobilise a drill on this scale in a matter of days. The areas covered by these drills are perhaps the biggest we’ve seen so far, and include a lot of the Taiwan Strait, the Bashi Channel ( which separates Taiwan from the Philippines ), as well as large swathes of the Pacific along Taiwan’s east coast.

The addition of Taiwan’s dispersed outlying islands close to the Foreign beach for the first time is also notable. The PLA has marked them as being “encircled” by Taiwanese troops. On CCTV, Taiwanese military journalist Zhang Chi said the maneuvers demonstrated the PLA’s “ability to seize command of Taiwan’s important system”.

According to Taiwan military expert Chieh Chung, the drills appear to be a simulation of a full-scale attack on the island, with the exception of the real landing of troops. He believes that the addition of all of Taiwan’s off-shore islands is evidence of China’s plan to shut down facilities that might build a counter-attack against the PLA. He also believes that this two-day drill wo n’t be the last one Taiwan will experience this year, hence the nickname” Joint Sword 2024- A.”

The training have generated a social shrug on Taipei’s streets. Some will say they are unconcerned. However, that is not entirely accurate. Living in China is comparable to living in an earthquake area. You need to be prepared for it because the drills are always happening and the risk is growing. However, you must also move on with your lifestyle.

The Chinese training have brought all the parties up despite the obscene ties between Taiwan’s decision DPP and the opposition, which were brawling in parliament last year. The opposition KMT, which is usually seen as being pro- China, has called for Beijing to display caution. They do not want to appear to be helpful toward Beijing at this time.

This odd irony demonstrates how much Taiwan and its people are understood by China’s socialist officials.

They stated now that the military operations are primarily aimed at “deterring and defeating freedom causes.”

They claimed that Mr. Lai was the worst of the Japanese officials who had challenged Beijing. Lee Teng-hui, Chen Shui-bian, and Tsai Ing-wen have all been defeated in the fight for Taiwan’s democracy, according to a remark on CCTV. These previous president, voted in by the Chinese people, render up China’s dome of” separatists”. Three of them are DPP employees.

Every time China turns up the military harassment, help for the DPP tends to rise, and that for the” China- helpful” KMT falls. In a more recent instance, decades of military incursions in the months leading up to the election in January, put Mr. Lai in the spotlight.

Thus far, it seems to be having the same result if the goal is to intimidate Taiwanese people into dissention of political parties and leaders who oppose Beijing.