China is the kind of guy who could beat the crap out of you and then complain that you’re “hyping up” your broken bones and hemorrhaging.
According to Chinese diplomats and military men, for the sake of cheap electoral gain certain people in Taiwan are “hyping up” the military threat from China. Al Jazeera reports (December 28, 2023):
“The Democratic Progressive Party authorities are deliberately hyping up the so-called ‘military threat from the mainland’ and exaggerating tensions,” China’s Ministry of National Defense spokesperson Wu Qian said on Thursday.
“This is entirely to seek electoral gain,” he added, accusing Taiwan of using a “familiar electoral playbook to stoke confrontation and manipulate the election”.
On Thursday, Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense said it had detected 12 Chinese military aircraft flying over the Taiwan Strait, the sensitive median line separating Taiwan from China.
To intimidate Taiwanese voters and manipulate the January 13 election, the People’s Liberation Army keeps flinging war planes and war ships and war balloons and war satellites and bellicose admonitions about evil “separatists” at Taiwan. That’s one thing, and China thinks that operating this way is fine, for this is how China does things, and if China is doing it, it’s okay, QED.
But for any Taiwanese politicians or commentators to openly acknowledge that this is happening and even to debate it in an election campaign the outcome of which must importantly affect China-Taiwan relations and the future of Taiwan is quite another thing: totally out of bounds. China prefers quiet, reverent, meek, sycophantic, and self-deluding submission in response to its bullying, not frank discussion that might in virtue of factual and moral clarity stiffen anybody’s spine.
China breathing down Taiwan’s neck—a campaign issue? Yes, it seems that opponents of appeasing China are indeed following the dismal, tired old “familiar electoral playbook” of discussing the dominant issue of the campaign, almost as if they care about what happens next. What a rotten, manipulative thing to do, eh? And it’s true enough that discussing the major issues of a campaign may well affect the outcome of the campaign. Moreover, the manipulations don’t stop there. Campaigning is followed by voting. The voters, by preferring certain candidates over others, further affect the outcome.
China is very sensitive about all this. When China wants to crush you, just let yourself be crushed and leave it at that, is China’s theory; don’t “stoke confrontation” by resisting. China can’t handle it otherwise. I guess some kind of deep-seated inferiority complex is the reason. China should seriously consider getting some kind of psychiatric help.
