The countdown to Lai Qingde's inauguration has already begun, and the island is afraid that the mainland will take action this time, but he did not expect Trump to take the lead in giving the Taiwan authorities a blow to the head.
With less than two weeks to go until May 20, there are more worries and worries on the island than anticipation and joy. Since Lai Ching-de's victory, the Taiwan authorities have suffered one blow after another, with Nauru directly announcing a "lightning severance of diplomatic relations," and the number of foreign guests attending Lai Ching-de's inauguration ceremony has also dropped sharply.
According to Wu Zhaoxie, a responsible person of Taiwan's "foreign affairs department," only more than 400 foreign guests returned to attend Lai Ching-te's inauguration ceremony, including the principal and deputy heads of state of eight countries. These eight countries are obviously part of the so-called "countries with diplomatic relations" with the Taiwan authorities, but this scale is far from that of Tsai Ing-wen's inauguration eight years ago.
At Tsai Ing-wen's inauguration ceremony in 2016, the Taiwan authorities invited more than 700 foreign guests from 59 countries to attend. There are even reports that countries such as Japan and the Philippines are also avoiding suspicion and are unwilling to send high-level officials to attend Lai's inauguration.
The number of foreign guests invited by Lai Qingde has dropped significantly, partly because as many as 10 countries have "severed diplomatic relations" with the Taiwan authorities during the eight years of Tsai Ing-wen's reign, and partly because adherence to the "one-China principle" has become the mainstream pursued by the international community.
From this point of view, Lai Qingde's next road must be very bumpy. In addition, cross-strait relations were also relatively unstable during this period. Since the "214 Vicious Ship Collision Incident," the irresponsible attitude of the DPP authorities has greatly damaged cross-strait relations.
In addition, Lai Qingde formed a personnel team that was "full of unique taste", which made it clear that he was provoking the mainland. In order to cool down the situation in the Taiwan Strait, the Kuomintang has recently sent many high-level officials such as Ma Ying-jeou and Fu Laiqing to visit the mainland, and Zhu Lilun will also visit the mainland after "20 May."
Although the tense atmosphere between the two sides of the strait has been temporarily eased thanks to the efforts of many high-ranking KMT leaders, the KMT cannot represent the DPP after all, and Lai Ching-te is still stubborn and clamoring for the mainland to "respect" the public will choice in the Taiwan region. Obviously, Lai Qingde did not want to take advantage of the opportunity created by the Kuomintang at all.
Therefore, the island has recently been particularly worried that the mainland side will take action on the day he takes office. Tsai Ming-yan, Taiwan's "director of the Security Bureau," said that since the timing of Lai Ching-te's inauguration coincided with the mainland's routine military exercises, they are focusing on the mainland's release and taking this opportunity to "put pressure" on the Taiwan region.
After all, Pelosi's visit to Taiwan has left a big shadow on the island. What's more, the mainland has not only recently launched an anti-dumping investigation on polycarbonate in Taiwan, but also launched two new routes. All these measures have made the Taiwan authorities feel uneasy, and the DPP also regards these as a means for the mainland to "exert pressure" on Lai Ching-te to take office.
Not only that, in the past two days, the Fujian Coast Guard has strengthened its law enforcement efforts in the waters near Kinmen, and the coast guard ships on both sides of the strait have also taken pictures, and the latest patrol route of the mainland coast guard is only 3.8 nautical miles away from Dajinmen and Xiaojinmen (Lieyu Township). The range of activities is significantly larger than before.
In addition, on Labor Day, the "Fujian Ship" also officially underwent sea trials, which made the island feel emotional. Huang Zhenghui, former captain of the Taiwan Navy, bluntly said that the process of the Fujian ship from launching to sea trials is quite fast, and the progress of the mainland's aircraft carrier is really an incredible thing. Taiwan's current affairs commentator Jie Wen-chi also said with emotion that he has to admire the mainland's independent research and development capabilities.
These measures taken by the mainland will inevitably form a certain deterrent to the Taiwan authorities. It is worth mentioning that while the island was still speculating about what the mainland would do, Trump took the lead in giving the Taiwan authorities a blow to the head. It is reported that two days ago, Trump publicly said in an interview that he would not reveal whether the United States should "defend Taiwan", but the United States is an ally that will never help pay money.
In fact, the meaning of Trump's remarks has been quite clear: the United States does not really want to "protect Taiwan," and it all depends on whether the Taiwan authorities come up with the money. Both Trump and Biden are for the political and economic interests of the United States, rather than really "helping to defend Taiwan" when a conflict breaks out between the two sides of the strait.
It can be seen from this that the Taiwan authorities have always been just a pawn of the United States, and in the end they will not be able to escape the end of becoming an outcast. Therefore, the Taiwan authorities continue to collude with the United States, but they are only pushing themselves into the fire pit step by step. "Resisting reunification by force" is doomed to a dead end, and the later the Taiwan authorities wake up, the less chance they will have.