According to media reports on the island, Ma Wenjun, a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee of Taiwan's legislature, will lead a team to Taiping Island in the near future to inspect the island, and 20 representatives of the Kuomintang and the People's Party have registered to participate, while none of the DPP have signed up.
The Kuomintang has been suggesting that Tsai Ing-wen follow the example of Chen Shui-bian and Ma Ying-jeou and personally go to Taiping Island to "defend sovereignty" before leaving office, but Tsai Ming-yan, director of Taiwan's security bureau, does not suggest it, claiming that it will be interpreted as "escalating the international situation". Wu Zhaoxie, head of Taiwan's foreign affairs department, also called it "inappropriate" to land on the island at this time.
With regard to the actions of the Kuomintang and the People's Party to "defend sovereignty," the DPP not only did not support it, but instead made cool remarks on the side. Wu Siyao, director general of the DPP legislature, claimed that the blue and white public opinion representatives went to Taiping Island to "cheer for the mainland and cause chaos in Taiwan," and she also called the KMT public opinion representatives "clowns." With regard to the DPP's criticism, Jiang Qichen said that in the past, Taiwan's defense department held an annual "Nansha Study Camp" and invited students to Taiping Island, but it did not stop running even after the regional situation heated up. Could it be that the activities of the defense departments are also adding to the chaos in the South China Sea? Taiping Dao is "Taiwan territory," and it is their responsibility and obligation to declare their "sovereignty" and visit the island for inspection.
And Zhu Lilun, chairman of the Kuomintang, also expressed his stance on the Taiping Island issue. When attending the event, he said that the party respected the representatives of the people's opinion when they visited various places, and he stressed that the real way of saying Taiping Island is that "Qijin District, Kaohsiung City, has Taiping Island." The KMT's representatives are willing to go, not as strongly fearful as the DPP. Don't forget that Taiping Island is the "territory of the Republic of China" and any representative of the people's will should visit it.
Obviously, Zhu Lilun's remarks were addressed to the DPP, because the situation in the South China Sea is heating up and Taiping Island is in a special location, Tsai Ing-wen has not dared to go to Taiping Island for eight years in office, and Lai Qingde, who is about to take office, has no intention of landing on the island for a long time. The Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) did not dare to land on the island, apparently for fear of offending the United States and the Philippines.
Recently, the Philippines has been eyeing the islands and reefs in the South China Sea, and Taiping Island is also within the scope of the Philippines' coveting; and in order to suppress Chinese mainland's influence in the South China Sea, the United States has been constantly encouraging the Philippines to stir up trouble behind its back. However, what the DPP did not dare to do, the Kuomintang dared to do, and Zhu Lilun's "ignorance of current affairs" was particularly "eye-catching" at this time.
The Kuomintang dared to offend the United States and the Philippines at this time, and there were many considerations. First of all, in recent times, important members of the Kuomintang have visited the mainland one after another, and remarkable results have been achieved; the mainland has not only opened up travel to Matsu, but has also lifted the ban on the import of Taiwan's Wendanyu to the mainland; these political achievements have not been possible for the Kuomintang to do, and it can be said that the channels of communication with the mainland are basically firmly in the hands of the Kuomintang. After getting closer to the mainland, the KMT's top brass did have "rigid" capital. Once it has the support of more Taiwanese people, the KMT will be able to do a lot more in Taiwan's political arena.
Second, a large number of US politicians have recently visited Taiwan, including Gilmour, a close confidant of Trump, who said during talks with senior DPP officials that if Trump is elected, he will still "support Taiwan." Although Trump publicly expressed his dissatisfaction with Taiwan some time ago, Gilmore's words show that Trump will not give up Taiwan.
In other words, the Kuomintang calculated that the United States did not plan to do anything with Taiwan at all, and for the Philippines, Taiwan's use value is even greater. Relying on two points of confidence, in the past 10 days before Lai Qingde took office, the KMT will continue to play a straight ball against the DPP to win more political benefits for itself.