In a Setback for Beijing, Taiwan Elects Lai Ching-te as President
In a Setback for Beijing, Taiwan Elects Lai Ching-te as President
Taiwan’s vice president, whose party has emphasized the island’s sovereignty, defeated an opposition party that favors reviving engagement with China.
Good. Taiwan may have once been a province of China, but with over half a century of self-rule it is time to stop pretending that this is still the case. Hong Kong is a very good example for what "reunification" would mean for Taiwan even in the best of cases.
over half a century of self-rule
Seem like this is understating it a bit (even if technically true). It's been 75 years.
It's always fun to go over lists of countries that are younger than Taiwan.
Virtually all of Africa is younger, gaining independence from the various colonial powers in the 60s or so, Eastern Europe is younger thanks to the fall of communism in the 90s. The Caribbean states are younger, also after gaining independence from their colonial powers. Bangladesh is younger, Israel is younger, North and South Korea are younger, Qatar, Singapore, Syria, Fiji, Kiribati, Marshall Islands, Papua New Guinea, Cyprus...
There are currently 193 member states in the UN, and my guess is that about half of them are younger than Taiwan. (I haven't found a good sortable list of country age to check this over though).
Good. Get fucked, CCP.
I wish the headlines would mention that it's a win for the incumbent party:
The candidate for the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) is current Vice President Lai Ching-te, with Hsiao Bi-khim as the running mate. The DPP has held the Presidency for eight years under the current President, Tsai Ing-we.
https://www.counteroffensive.news/p/we-visited-the-border-waters-between
It generates more clicks to make it seem like an upset, but it's pretty normal to re-elect the incumbent party if things are going reasonably well.
Yall seen that new show Ted on peacock?
Can't wait for one of the tankies on lemmy to chime in
Why? People here are generally against oppression and colonization.
Unless you're larping that wanting to stop the Palestinians from getting genocided is "Russian propaganda against America".
Nah, there is legitimately a ton of braindead campism on here masquerading as "leftism." The weirdly vocal support for Hamas (not just the plight of Palestinians, I literally have seen people say they will "write in Hamas" in the US election) is just the most recent iteration. Previously it was simping for Russia. For a while it was praising the Taliban.
It's always something. Usually weird purity tests, but rarely actual engagement with academic socialism
Permanently Deleted
Tldr;West Taiwan mad
I like the term Mainland Taiwan.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
For many of the millions of Taiwanese citizens who lined up at ballot booths on Saturday, the vote centered on the question of who should lead Taiwan in an increasingly tense standoff with its much larger, autocratic and heavily armed neighbor, China.
At the D.P.P.’s gathering outside its headquarters in Taipei, thousands of supporters, many of whom waved pink and green flags, cheered as Mr. Lai’s lead grew during the counting of the votes, which was displayed on a large screen on an outdoor stage.
And Mr. Ko, the third-party candidate who had sought to appeal to voters fed up with the two established parties, despite falling in the polls, had continued to draw large numbers to his rallies, including nearly 200,000 people on Friday night.
The parade was festive, with candidate vans playing thumping club music, and several supporters dressed in inflatable dinosaur costumes for no apparent political reason.
Before Mr. Lai assumes the presidency in May, Taiwanese people — along with officials in Beijing and Washington — will be watching for any early signs of his approach to China, Taiwan’s biggest trading partner as well as a growing threat to its autonomy.
He has promised to stick with the approach of the current leader, President Tsai Ing-wen: keeping Beijing at arm’s length while seeking to avoid conflict, and strengthening ties with the United States and other democracies.
The original article contains 1,104 words, the summary contains 229 words. Saved 79%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!
several supporters dressed in inflatable dinosaur costumes for no apparent political reason.
This is my favorite part right here 😂❤️
People here seem to think that the parties that want unification are pro-CCP. Taiwan (until now) thinks they are the rightful rulers of China. A decent part of three Taiwanese still want reunification. I'm happy that they don't have that delusion anymore, and I hope China follows suit, but let's not see the situation here too black and white.
A decent part of the Taiwanese still want reunification, but they don't have the delusion of what - being the rightful rulers of China?
You hope China follows suit of what, not wanting "reunification"?
Although "reunification" wouldn't be what happens and would be a bad word for if China took over. It'd probably be more like "forced subjegation".
Can't be taken over by China if you take over China first. [taps forehead]
Most current Taiwanese don't think they're the rightful rulers of China. But, some groups have never completely given up that claim. The official name of Taiwan is the "Republic of China", as in "Republic of all of China, including the parts currently under the control of PRC"
Given that the DPP just won again, I'd say it's fair to guess that more than half the country thinks of themselves as more Taiwanese than Chinese.
It was the KMT that still represented the belief that the rightful rulers of all of China is the exiled government of the Republic of China currently based in Taiwan. But, I think even most KMT voters don't really think they're the rightful rulers of the mainland anymore. They just think of themselves as having a Chinese identity.
If something magical happened and overnight China became a liberal democracy, I think there would be many people in Taiwan who would want to go "home" to China. But, I'd guess it isn't a majority anymore. My guess is that even among the people who think of themselves as Chinese rather than Taiwanese, most of them now consider Taiwan to be home.
How about a set back for the CCP
Who's capital is Beijing? It's often how people refer to govts.
CCP is like CPUSA aint going nowhere bud. Just another party full a politicians
I don't like the title here. That is all.