Taiwanese Vote for Self-Determination in DPP Win

Lai of the DPP will be the next President of Taiwan

Before the Taiwan election on January 13, the People's Republic of China had warned voters to "make the right choice", and the Taiwanese heard it loud and clear -- re-elect the Democratic Progressive Party back into office, this time with Tsai Ing-wen's deputy Lai Ching-te as the next leader of the island.

Lai won about 40 percent of the vote, followed by the Kuomintang's Hou Yu-ih at 33 percent, and Ko Wen-je of the Taiwan People's Party with 26 percent.

Although votes still need to be counted, Lai will become the next President of Taiwan, though the DPP may not have full control of the legislature with a projected 51 seats out of 113, while the KMT is expected to have 52 seats, eight for the TPP.

KMT is projected to have more seats in parliament

Nevertheless, the third consecutive win for the DPP shows the island is keen on standing its own ground and does not want to be usurped by Communist China, particularly by force. 

There are concerns former KMT president Ma Ying-jeou should not have said that Xi Jinping should be trusted, which may have turned off voters; but after the Taiwanese had front-row seats watching what happened to Hong Kong in 2019 and 2020 with the imposition of the national security law, they don't want the same thing to happen to them.

Meanwhile Hongkongers wistfully looked to Taiwan and watched its residents able to freely exercise their right to vote, and wondered if the city would ever achieve universal suffrage.

Lai is 64 years old and a former doctor turned politician, whose party is pushing for self-determination, social justice and rejection of China's threats. 

However, Beijing painted Lai as a stubborn "Taiwan independence worker", a "destroyer of cross-strait peace", and potentially a "creator of a dangerous war". 

Taiwan has over 19 million eligible voters

Nevertheless, Lai took a less radical approach during his campaign, saying Taiwan did not need formal independence, and in his victory speech said he would seek "cooperation with China", following the path of of his predecessor Tsai. 

This seems to have appealed to voters, much to the chagrin of Beijing, which does not seem to understand how it is perceived on the island.

It's a well-known trend that the older generations are generally more supportive of the KMT, as they were the ones who moved to Taiwan after 1949 and want to see some kind of reunification. However, the younger generation voters identify themselves as Taiwanese. They are well aware of the existential threat that Beijing imposes, but they do not align themselves with China.

Beijing will have to recalibrate its response to the election results as Lai is signalling his willingness to have some kind of balanced approach to cross-straits relations. Constant threats by China have had the opposite effect and made the Taiwanese more interested in controlling their fate the best they can. 

Foxconn's Terry Gou Makes Taiwanese Presidential Bid

Gou has announced he wants to run in Taiwan elections

The upcoming Taiwan presidential elections next year are going to be very interesting now that Foxconn founder Terry Gou has thrown his hat into the ring.

For months he has kept political pundits guessing, but now that he has made the announcement, the jockeying for power can begin in earnest, though some experts think the businessman does not have much of a chance.

That's because he is running as an independent and will need signatures of 1.5 per cent of Taiwan's voting population, or 290,000.

As for his platform, Gou aims to unify the opposition to defeat the governing Democratic Progressive Party led by Tsai Ing-wen, who has led Taiwan for two terms and cannot seek another.

He made his wealth from Foxconn factories

He criticised the DPP for its policies of bringing "Taiwan into the risk of war" with China, as it threatens to take back the territory it has claimed is its own.

"I will definitely not allow Taiwan to become the next Ukraine," Gou said.

He also said Taiwan needs new strategies for economic development and for issues at home.

"Domestically, the national policy direction is filled with all sorts of mistakes. There's no way to solve the difficulties of Taiwanese industry and people's livelihoods."

Politically he is more aligned with the Kuomingtang, who ruled China in the first half of the 20th century, then lost to the Chinese Communists in 1949 and fled to Taiwan ever since, and vowing to take back the mainland one day.

However the Kuomintang is worried Gou is splitting the vote of its own party, even though he claims to be uniting the opposition party. 

Gou has made his wealth from Foxconn, the main supplier to Apple that has many factories in China that produce iPhones.

One wonders what Beijing thinks of this entrepreneur friendly to China, running to become president of Taiwan...

Lai of DPP is leading in the polls

But for now Gou's immediate task is to find the 290,000 signatures he needs to qualify as an independent. 

According to Wang Yeh-lih, a professor of politics at National Taiwan University says Gou has never garnered more than 20 percent of support that put him in the running with three other candidates: former Taipei city mayor Ko Wen-je of the Taiwan People's Party, and current Vice President Lai Ching-te of the DPP, and new Taipei City Mayor Hou Yu-ih for the KMT.

Lai is the frontrunner, with Ko and Hou trailing.

Nevertheless, one can't dismiss Gou just yet -- with Taiwanese politics, anything can happen from now until voting day on January 13, 2024. 

Canadian MPs Plan Visit to Taiwan

Holcomb with Taiwan President Tsai in Taipei

The Governor of Indiana Eric Holcomb has touched down in Taiwan for trade talks and there are fears as to what China will do to retaliate.

In the meantime a group of Canadian Members of Parliament are looking to travel to Taiwan as early as October ostensibly for a Canada-Taiwan "friendship group", and that the Taiwanese government is footing the bill.

The eight MPs are members of both this friendship group and a committee on international trade, so there may be trade talks involved.

Trudeau warns MPs to think of consequences

However, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is concerned about the upcoming trip after seeing what happened following US Speaker Nancy Pelosi's visit with China surrounding the island as it conducted live military drills in the water, with some missiles landing in Japanese waters.

"Canada has a long-standing position around China and Taiwan that we will ensure to respect. China's belligerence around this and their position is, of course, as it has been for a while, troubling," he said.

"We will ensure that the parliamentarians making the decision to travel or not will be done with all the reflections of the consequences and the impacts of it."

In other words he wants these MPs to think twice about going to Taiwan.

New Democrat MP and international trade committee member Brian Masse said earlier that Canadians "must support other democracies that have fought for their rights and freedoms."

Randy Hoback, Conservative MP and committee vice-chair, said MPs in the Canada-Taiwan parliamentary "friendship group" used to go to Taiwan about twice a year before Covid-19 restricted travel. He has visited Taiwan before.

Hoback says "friendship group" going to Taiwan

However, Hoback said he will consult Global Affairs Canada before going on the trip now. "There's no intent on my part to antagonise China," he said.

Understandable, but at the same time the United States has already paved the way, so why not keep a stream of visitors coming to Taiwan to show support and get a trade deal on the side? 

Foreign companies are pulling out of China and looking for alternatives, so Taiwan is a possibility, and its products particularly in the agricultural sector are considered high quality. 

Size-wise Taiwan is a dot compared to China, but as Pelosi says, it is one of the few democratic places in Asia and deserves to be supported as much as possible.

Trudeau needs to look at the bigger picture. The more other countries support Taiwan, that's an effective way to keep China in check, otherwise the bullying will continue.

Pelosi's Taiwan Trip, HK Media Victory on NSL

Pelosi received a medal of honour from Tsai this morning

As expected the raging threats did not stop US Speaker Nancy Pelosi from arriving in Taiwan, meeting with President Tsai Ing-wen and even receiving a medal of honour for standing firm in safeguarding freedom, democracy and human rights.

PLA have surrounded the island doing live drills

Nevertheless, China is retaliating by holding live military drills surrounding Taiwan, more than it did in 1996. The live-fire drills will apparently continue until Thursday, though it is not clear how much longer Pelosi will be in Taiwan.

And as usual the Taiwanese people are cool as cucumbers, unmoved by the latest fiasco, but for the most part pleased to see such public support for their country.

Meanwhile a very important ruling happened yesterday in Hong Kong with regards to national security law cases.

In a landmark ruling, reporting restrictions regarding the transfer of criminal cases to the High Court must be lifted if the defendant makes such a request.

This came about after lawyer and activist Chow Hang-tung challenged a magistrate's decision to retain reporting restrictions on national security law cases.

Chow was arrested for her part in the June 4 vigil

On Tuesday, High Court Judge Alex Lee said that magistrates had no say in whether to lift reporting restrictions on committal hearings if the accused had applied to do so.

Chow is facing charges of inciting and taking part in illegal assembly of the 2020 June 4 candlelight vigil, and for organising the vigil the following year, as she is the then vice-chairperson of the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China.

She along with the group's other leaders, Albert Ho Chun-yan, and Lee Cheuk-yan were charged with incitement to subversion under the national security law.

She filed the judicial review in May after Principal Magistrate Peter Law's decision in April to reject her request to lift reporting restrictions.

This ruling is significant in terms of press freedom, but also in helping people understand what happens in the court proceedings for a national security law case. It also gives some transparency and accountability with regards to the judicial system.

High Court Judge Lee allows reporting NSL cases

The government will not be pleased, especially Beijing. But hey -- if they want people to know more about the national security law, watching the cases through reports from the media -- gives people a better idea of what it's all about. 

China Issues Threats Ahead of Pelosi in Taiwan

Pelosi met with Singaporean Prime Minister Lee in first stop

While House Speaker Nancy Pelosi did not announce she would visit Taiwan during her Asian tour, it looks very likely she will be touching down Tuesday evening, then meet President Tsai Ing-wen in the morning, and afterwards address parliament.

Naturally China is enraged like a tiger pacing in its cage and spewing threats in speeches and social media through its network of diplomats.

Pelosi expected to meet President Tsai 

Beijing has threatened to fire missiles into the Taiwan Strait, send military planes into Taiwan's air defense zone, or stage large-scale naval or air activities that cross traditional lines.

"We would like to tell the United States once again that China is standing by, the Chinese People's Liberation Army will never sit idly by, and China will take resolute response and strong countermeasures to defend its sovereignty and territorial integrity," said Zhao Lijian, a Foreign Ministry spokesman during a media briefing. "As for what measures, if she dares to go, then let's wait and see."

Well... with Pelosi's visit pretty much confirmed, the ball seems to be in Beijing's court. 

With all the bellicose threats, China has metaphorically painted itself into a corner unless it really does follow through on its words.

There are other reasons to consider why Beijing is so upset over Pelosi's possible visit.

Shanghai completely deserted during lockdown

The domestic situation in China with the zero-Covid policy has irritated and frustrated residents all over the country with the extreme lockdowns, non-stop testing, food shortages and pets beaten and killed if they are infected. 

Shutting down cities like Shanghai for 80 days has cause the country's economy to come to a screeching halt, and tens of thousands of people have lost jobs, while the rich and expats are trying to leave the country. 

There's also an alleged bank scam in Henan province, where account holders were protesting in front of the bank to be able to withdraw money since mid April. It has caused a crisis in confidence in state-owned banks and is still not resolved.

So one can imagine why some sabre rattling against Pelosi would make for a nice distraction from domestic woes.

Henan bank scam led to hundreds protesting

But will the average laobaixing care when they are more concerned about not catching Covid, having enough to eat, or be able to get their money?

Daily necessities are more pressing than geopolitical issues.

On the flip side, the Taiwanese don't seem to care much about the verbal threats from the People's Republic either.

They seem used to these kinds of war of words and are just carrying on with their daily lives, again Covid is more of a priority than Pelosi's visit.

On social media people are suggesting what she should do while in Taipei, including tucking into beef noodles and drinking bubble tea...