In less than a month, Lai Ching-te, the leader-designate of the Taiwan region, is about to take office, but at this time, the wind direction on the island has suddenly changed, and the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) has actually begun to support the two sides of the strait to start exchanges and dialogues as soon as possible.
Recently, for three days in a row, Lai Qingde suddenly began to signal dialogue with the mainland. First, on the afternoon of 23 July, when meeting with a delegation from the US Center for Strategic and International Studies, he said that after taking office, he would handle cross-strait relations rationally and prudently and resolutely safeguard the status quo of peace in the Taiwan Strait. At the DPP's "Central Executive Committee" meeting on 24 July, he for the first time expressed his hope to "carry out a benign dialogue responsibly" with the mainland.
On 25 July, Lai Ching-te announced the sixth wave of cabinet personnel lists, and once again mentioned that "the two sides of the strait should carry out self-confident exchanges to enhance mutual understanding, understanding, and reconciliation." Not only that, but even Lai Qingde's "political mentor" Hong Qichang also published an article saying that Lai Qingde has sent a "signal of goodwill" to the mainland, hoping that the two sides of the strait can develop peacefully, manage risks, and rebuild mutual trust.
Why did Lai Qingde and even the entire DPP make such a tremendous turn? This is inseparable from the pressure exerted by the mainland. In order to suppress Lai Qingde's "Taiwan independence" tendency, the mainland has recently successively "corrected" the M503 route and imposed top-level anti-dumping duties on polycarbonate produced in Taiwan. Since the 18th, the People's Liberation Army (PLA) has also continuously dispatched fighter planes to carry out activities around the Taiwan Strait.
In particular, on the day of 20 July, in just three hours, the mainland flew 21 sorties, 17 of which crossed the "center line of the strait" and its extension. In early April, Zhang Yanting, former deputy commander of Taiwan's "air force," warned that once the PLA military plane crossed the "center line," it would be only two minutes to reach the "so-called territorial waters and airspace," three minutes to the mouth of the Tamsui River, and five minutes to Tsai Ing-wen's office, which meant that the PLA could carry out a "beheading" operation against Taiwan within 300 seconds.
Before that, some military fans shared a satellite image showing that there is a bombing range in Inner Mongolia, which is in the same proportion as the Boai Special Zone in Taipei City. In addition, at the Gaoli Mountain Tactical Training Center in Jiangsu, there is also a building similar to the Taoyuan Taekwondo Gym in Taiwan. Wu Qian, spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense, did not deny the authenticity of this news, but said meaningfully that only people with ulterior motives would be seated. As long as we do not engage in "Taiwan independence," there is no need to be anxious.
If you want to say "ulterior motives", Lai Qingde must be the first, the current Tsai Ing-wen office, is the future Lai Qingde's office, based on all the above information, the PLA has stepped on the "beheading" route in advance, once the Taiwan Strait is really "something", it can be taken down in 5 minutes at the earliest. For this news, Lai Qingde is probably not only anxious, but more fearful.
Since the beginning of this year, the "Taiwan independence" movement on the other side of the strait has been very obvious, and the Taiwan authorities have concocted the 14 February fishing boat collision incident of an extremely bad nature, and the live-fire training in Kinmen, which has been canceled. The risks in the Taiwan Strait continue to rise, but Lai Qingde has stepped up the personnel layout of "Taiwan independence" one after another before taking office, and has continuously thrown out the three major "Taiwan independence" remarks of "guarding sovereignty", "washing people's hearts", and "ordinary persecution". Not only the mainland, but even the United States cannot tolerate his radical style.
Some time ago, the trilateral summit of the United States, Japan, and the Philippines made a lot of nonsense on the Taiwan Strait issue, and the United States, fearing that there would be changes in the Taiwan Strait, even held a meeting with Qiu Kaiming, deputy director of the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council. The US side is also full of affirmation of Ma Ying-jeou's visit to the mainland. All this is enough for Lai Qingde to feel the true attitude of the US side toward the Taiwan issue. On the other hand, it also proves that Lai Qingde's "Taiwan independence" stance has reached a level that even the United States is worried about.
Although the Taiwan Strait is not a big place, it cannot allow anyone to make waves here and live in vain. The mainland is now slowly closing its net, and the PLA has already said that it will never give up the option of force, and it is not better for the DPP authorities to act rashly and recklessly, otherwise they will bring about their own destruction.