1y ago

'Stop threatening Taiwan', its new president William Lai tells China

Taiwan's newly inaugurated president William Lai has called on China to stop threatening the island and accept the existence of its democracy.

He urged Beijing to replace confrontation with dialogue, shortly after being sworn in on Monday.

He also said Taiwan would never back down in the face of intimidation from China, which has long claimed the island as its own.

China responded by saying, "Taiwan independence is a dead end".

"Regardless of the pretext or the banner under which it is pursued, the push for Taiwan independence is destined to fail," China's Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at the daily press briefing on Monday afternoon.

World News @beehaw.org

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1y ago

Taiwan's new president calls on China to stop threatening the island and accept the existence of its democracy

www.bbc.com /news/world-asia-69036373

46 comments

My favorite part of China saying Taiwan isn’t a country is where we say we agree but still sell Taiwan hundreds of fighter jets and missiles.
- we == ?
  
  Countries toeing the line to allow CCP China to save face, while also selling defense equipment to Taiwan.
  
  Guess OP own Lockheed Martin shares or something
- Hey if Western Taiwan wants fighter jets and missiles they have to learn to be nicer.
- Taiwanese person here. We need to get a special VISA to go to China. Even their immigration thinks we are independent.
I like how they say Taiwan Independence is a dead end.
Taiwan is already independent. China wants to undo that, but they make sure to word it as if Taiwan is a rebelling State instead.
- There is No War in Ba Sing Se.
- They treat Taiwan that way because the Chinese civil war was never fully resolved. The US interfered to prevent the communists from taking Taiwan and ousting Chiang Kai-shek’s fascist KMT. As such, the CPC sees persistent US support for Taiwanese independence as an implicit threat against their sovereignty.
  
  Taiwanese living in Taiwan here. We have been removing Chiang Kai Shek monuments from everywhere because he doesn't represent Taiwan anymore. We are not old China. We are Taiwan.
Billy has balls. 💪
I don't know much about the internal politics of Taiwan but I think playing the diplomatic game strategically is pretty crucial here. If the world has to take sides, I'm afraid for Taiwan.
- You’re not wrong. The CPC see Taiwanese independence as a threat because the US prevented them from taking it during the Chinese civil war. The US knows this and clearly intends to use Taiwan as a pressure point to gain diplomatic leverage against China. That makes it a high stakes game with the Taiwanese people caught in the middle and no resolution in sight.
  Given that context, it’s not surprising most people in Taiwan want to maintain the status quo and prevent any escalation. However, as tensions rise between the US and China the political tensions in Taiwan rise with them.
Sure bud
Inb4 tankies explain why it's morally correct to disappear/murder anyone asking for what KKKhina isn't offering at will.
Maybe Lai should figure out his own legislature first 🤷
Feels like he's trying to deflect away from the absolute fuckfest that his legislature has become by pointing at a bogeyman. After ,all, how dare a country exercise overflight in a military aircraft over a foreign EEZ.
- .ml detected, opinion rejected.
  
  Lai is objectively fucked in his own legislature. Both the KMT and TPP are opposed to the DPP (enough to set aside their own differences)... And they hold the majority in the legislature.
- I don't understand how that article relates to Taiwan at all. It seems like a dispute between China and Australia.
  
  He's deflecting on a fucking non-issue because he doesn't want to admit that his policy of antagonizing China isn't working and the opposition (KMT+TPP) have increasing power.
- You can't see why a plane launching flares in the path of a helicopter in international waters is problematic?
- How much does Pooh bear pay you or are you just a zinglet doing this shit for free?
  
  The facts are that Lai's legislature is a fucking mess domestically. It's breaking out into fistfights, people are trying to steal away bills to prevent them getting passed, and the KMT+TPP are much more unified than expected.
  Lai was only elected because of FPTP and he needs to project legitimacy in the face of the KMT+TPP opposition (who, together, received something like 60% of the vote). This is him attempting to do so.

46 comments