Think of what happened to Hong Kong when you vote, Taiwan president says

Stamau123@lemmy.world to World News@lemmy.world – 467 points – Think of what happened to Hong Kong when you vote, Taiwan president says
reuters.com

TAIPEI, Dec 3 (Reuters) - Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen appealed to voters on Sunday to think of what had happened to Chinese-controlled Hong Kong when they cast their ballots next month, saying peace must be backed up with a commitment to boost defences.

Taiwan prepares for presidential and parliamentary elections on Jan. 13 as China, which claims the democratically governed island as its own territory, ramps up military pressure to assert its claims, including two major war games around the island in the past year and a half.

China and Taiwan's main opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), have cast the election as a choice between war and peace. China detests Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and its presidential candidate, Vice President Lai Ching-te, calling them dangerous separatists.

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Hong Kong, a former British colony, was returned to Chinese rule in 1997 with the promise of wide autonomy under a "one country, two systems" framework

A promise which China immediately broke. When the people of Hong Kong protested against China's increasing authoritarian control and general dishonesty, China used it as an excuse to brutalize them.

Beijing in 2020 imposed a tough national security law on Hong Kong, which it said was vital to restore stability after the city, a global financial hub, was rocked for months by sometimes violent anti-government and anti-China protests in 2019.

This is such a softball take. The violence was caused by a pro-Chinese mob who were probably a gang paid by the government to attack the protesters, and by the Hong Kong police.

China and Taiwan's main opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), have cast the election as a choice between war and peace.

[...]

KMT presidential candidate Hou Yu-ih said on Saturday a vote for the DPP was equivalent to "sending everyone out to the battlefield" because supporting Taiwan independence would touch off a war.

KMT is threatening the people of Taiwan with violence in order to influence their votes. If there is a war, it will be because China started it.

Well said. This feels like an existential election for Taiwan.

The next several are likely to be. Unfortunately that means internal things that should be important take a back seat to external things.

It wasn't really immediately, it was only under Pooh Bear that mainland China abandoned all pretenses and went full authoritarian in Hong Kong. China seems to be doing another great leap forward, again lead by a paranoid authoritarian leader who happens to be superb at politicking, but bad at governing. It's as if history is doomed to repeat itself.

Edit: I somehow misspelled Hong Kong.