Preface
May 20, 2024, can be said to be a historical juncture for the Taiwan region, when Tsai Ing-wen, the leader of the Taiwan region who has been in power for 8 years, will step down and be replaced by Lai Qingde of the Democratic Progressive Party.
Originally, Lai Qingde's calculation was to unify the hearts of the people on the island before taking over and create a good start for the next succession.
However, the ideals are very full, but the reality is very cruel, and there is a new round of "severance of diplomatic relations" in the so-called "countries with diplomatic relations" in the Taiwan region, and the mainland's ban on Taiwan has gradually taken effect.
Even the Kuomintang in the Taiwan region doesn't even bother to do a face-saving project!
The Kuomintang collectively did not give face
According to Taiwan media reports, the Kuomintang has reported that because Lai Qingde will hold an inauguration ceremony on Monday, May 20, which overlaps with the internal meeting time of the Taiwan legislature, all the "democratic representatives" of the Kuomintang will not be able to take time to participate.
This means that Lai's inauguration ceremony will likely become a "stage" for the DPP to direct and perform itself.
For the new regional leaders who are about to come to power, only the ruling party alone "performs", and even if there are more people from other countries or regions, after they actually take office, their internal contradictions will only intensify.
Especially with the KMT in control of the legislature, Lai Qingde will face huge resistance and obstacles if he wants to promote any major policy or bill during his tenure.
Not only that, the Kuomintang in the camp of the county and city governments also showed a cold attitude towards Lai Qingde's "inauguration."
So far, among Taiwan's "six capitals," only Tainan Mayor Huang Weizhe, a member of the Democratic Progressive Party, has been confirmed to attend, and the mayors of the other five counties have all shirked on the grounds that they are busy with official business.
It is not difficult to find that on the one hand, people of all walks of life in Taiwan do not have concentrated trust in Lai Ching-te's imminent assumption of power, and on the other hand, they lack confidence in the ruling center of the DPP that he represents.
After all, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has been in power for many years, Taiwan's economy has suffered a serious decline, and the extreme proposition of "Taiwan independence" has also caused increasingly tense cross-strait relations.
However, the mainland only needs to play a good "three games of chess" around the Taiwan issue, and cross-strait reunification is bound to be just around the corner!
The mainland deploys a "three-game chess" around the Taiwan issue
1. Military chess: Normalization of law enforcement operations in the Kinmen waters
In the face of the escalating "Taiwan independence" provocations in the Taiwan region, the mainland has not relented, but has continued to exert military pressure and deployed the "three games of chess" in an all-round way.
The first game of chess is to intensify law enforcement in the waters near Kinmen.
Since the beginning of this year, mainland coast guard vessels and official vessels have repeatedly entered the "forbidden and restricted waters" claimed by the Taiwan authorities, and the scale is unprecedented, and their actions have gradually become normalized.
At the beginning of this month, the mainland coast guard was only less than 4 nautical miles away from Kinmen Island, which undoubtedly completely smashed the DPP authorities' fictitious concept of "territorial waters" with practical actions.
Starting with Kinmen, the mainland is gradually regaining law enforcement jurisdiction over the waters around Taiwan, while at the same time, the intensity and scale of the PLA's activities around the Taiwan Strait are also increasing day by day.
On 8 and 9 May, for example, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) flew 23 warplanes and five warships to the airspace around the Taiwan Strait.
The most recent of these is just 58 nautical miles from Eluanbi, south of the main island of Taiwan, and the flight time is only 5 minutes.
This posture of direct military suppression of the island of Taiwan has already yielded initial results.
As a matter of fact, through frequent military activities, the PLA has not only figured out the battlefield environment around the Taiwan Strait, but also further reduced the space for the DPP authorities' military presence.
In the event of a need for military action in the future, the PLA has already gained the opportunity and favorable conditions.
2. Economic and trade chess: The ban on Taiwan products has taken effect and weakened the economic foundation of "Taiwan independence".
In addition to military pressure, the mainland has also exerted strong economic and trade pressure, and this is the second game of chess.
For a long time, the mainland has always been Taiwan's largest trading partner, and cross-strait economic and trade exchanges were once very close.
However, since Tsai Ing-wen came to power, the DPP authorities have continued to undermine cross-strait economic and trade relations, using them as a tool to confront the mainland and seek "Taiwan independence."
The ban on Taiwan promulgated by the mainland is undoubtedly a severe punishment for the Taiwan authorities' long-term "support for Taiwan independence" and is also a hard-line stance against "Taiwan independence" separatism.
With the introduction of more restrictive measures in the future, Taiwan's manufacturing industry will gradually lose the important market of the mainland, and the economic development prospects will also fall into great uncertainty.
Taiwan's economic lifeline is in trouble, and this is precisely the price that the DPP authorities will inevitably pay for their long-term pursuit of "independence."
As a matter of fact, when the mainland is facing a ban on Taiwan's agricultural products, the Taiwan region has also made a request to the United States, hoping to be allowed to import processed meat, fruits, and other agricultural products to the United States.
However, just as Lai Qingde is about to take office, the US government has not made any substantive response to this.
This blow is not small to the Taiwan authorities, who are desperately seeking to strengthen economic and trade ties with the United States, but they do not seem to care about the situation and still choose to use their hot face to stick the cold ass of the United States.
At a time when the Taiwan region is crying out for help in the crisis of its economy and people's livelihood, this cold attitude of the US side once again confirms the fact that even the so-called "allies" will not pay substantial economic and political costs for Taiwan's interests.
3. Diplomatic chess: continue to isolate "Taiwan independence" forces and greatly reduce their so-called "international space"
In addition to the military and economic aspects, the mainland has also dealt a powerful blow to the "Taiwan independence" forces diplomatically, and this is the third diplomatic chess game.
As Tsai Ing-wen's presidency draws to a close, the Taiwan authorities are increasingly isolated in the international arena.
Prior to this, Western countries once regarded Taiwan as an important pawn in containing the rise of the mainland, and gave some diplomatic and economic support to the Taiwan authorities.
But over time, this support has drifted away.
As recently as mid-January, the Pacific island nation of Nauru announced the "severance of diplomatic relations" with Taiwan, in which it made clear that it recognized the People's Republic of China as the sole legitimate government representing the whole of China and that Taiwan was an inalienable part of China's territory.
This practice is undoubtedly a high degree of recognition of the one-China principle.
As a matter of fact, in the past few years, relations between the Taiwan authorities and their so-called "countries with diplomatic relations" have continued to deteriorate.
In addition to Nauru, Haiti, Guatemala, El Salvador, and other countries that previously maintained diplomatic relations with Taiwan have successively "severed diplomatic relations" with the Taiwan authorities and established diplomatic relations with the mainland instead.
This "wave of severing diplomatic relations" is spreading at an accelerated pace.
As a part of China, Taiwan does not have any independent right to establish "diplomatic relations" in the international arena on its own, and its so-called "diplomatic relations" relationship is purely illegal.
As the international community gradually recognizes this reality, the "severance of diplomatic relations" with Taiwan is just the only way to return to the normalization of international relations.
Therefore, at Lai Ching-te's inauguration ceremony, according to the latest information available so far, only eight of the 12 countries with "diplomatic relations" in the Taiwan region confirmed that they would send a delegation led by their heads of state to attend the meeting.
As long as the mainland continues to play this move and plays well, Taiwan's so-called "countries with diplomatic relations" will not be far from zero!
Taiwan's public opinion has drifted away from Germany, and Lai Ching-te is still going his own way
As a matter of fact, before Lai Ching-te took office, many people on the island of Taiwan had pointed out that Tsai Ing-wen's reckless "Taiwan independence" offensive during her administration had seriously harmed cross-strait relations and pushed Taiwan to the brink of danger.
They called on the new leader to assess the situation and resume dialogue with the mainland.
However, despite such strong calls from within the island, Lai Qingde does not seem to show any signs of responding or changing.
On the contrary, he not only made many wild remarks about "Taiwan independence" in public, but also blamed the mainland for "pressure" on many of Taiwan's problems, and did not see the many goodwill of the mainland in the slightest.
The DPP authorities' attitude of going their own way actually reflects their illusory expectations of the United States as a "backer."
For a long time, "relying on the United States to seek independence" has been the consistent practice of the DPP authorities.
On the one hand, they are trying their best to win over the United States, hoping that the United States will support them in cross-strait contradictions.
On the other hand, it pins Taiwan's security on the United States and uses the illusory "American commitment" as its talisman.
As a matter of fact, the United States' attitude toward Taiwan is entirely based on the weighing of its own interests, and Taiwan is only one of the many chess pieces that the United States is vainly trying to contain the mainland.
Obviously, however, the Taiwan authorities have not clearly recognized this fact, or are unwilling to face it!
Therefore, if the DPP authorities blindly "rely on the United States to seek independence," they may end up with nothing to gain, or even "no bones left."
The Taiwan issue is purely China's internal affair and brooks no foreign interference, but the DPP authorities' insistence on colluding with external forces to seek "independence" is undoubtedly seriously provoking the mainland's bottom line.
If Lai Qingde continues to engage in his own "Taiwan independence" style after taking office and does not restart the dialogue mechanism with the mainland, then cross-strait relations will fall into further tense confrontation.
Once the situation gets out of control, Lai Ching-te will bring serious military risks and economic turmoil to Taiwan.
On Mother's Day, Hong Xiuzhu also shouted to Lai Qingde, calling on him to accept the blood of the Chinese nation, handle cross-strait relations with a pragmatic attitude, and never insist on going his own way and stubbornly supporting the "Taiwan independence" stance, thus causing irreparable consequences.
The peaceful reunification of the two sides of the strait is the trend of the times
Looking at the development of cross-strait relations, it is not difficult for us to find that peaceful reunification has become an irresistible historical trend and the trend of the times.
Whether it is a military "encirclement," an economic and trade "impoverished Taiwan," or a diplomatic "isolated Taiwan," the mainland's series of actions are unswervingly advancing in this direction.
As Lai Qingde takes office this time, the mainland has paid no attention to the vicious incidents that have occurred before, and has instead forcefully carried out routine law enforcement activities in Kinmen and other places, once again conveying its determination.
All this is to clear the way for final reunification and completely sweep the "Taiwan independence" forces out of the historical arena.
Resources:
All the representatives of the Chinese Kuomintang did not attend the ceremony of Lai Ching-te as the leader of the Taiwan region -- the Taiwan Strait Net
Lai Qingde took office in 520, and Huang Weizhe, the head of the "six capitals", was confirmed to attend the ceremony--Taiwan Strait Net
"23 PLA military aircraft sorties + 5 warships"--Shangguan News
The Chinese Coast Guard patrols the waters near Kinmen, and Taiwan media keep a close eye on it