Taiwan authorities' platitudes on democracy are doomed to backfire

Editor's note: Zhou Wenxing, a special commentator on current affairs for CGTN, is associate professor at the School of International Studies, Nanjing University. He writes extensively on comparative politics and international relations, with an emphasis on the Taiwan question and China-U.S. relations. The article reflects the author's opinions, and not necessarily the views of CGTN.

The Lai's speech pushed the fallacy of "Taiwan independence," under the guise of democracy, which heightens tensions in the Taiwan Straits, and threatens the security of people on both sides. This is a totally undemocratic act.

Since taking office as Taiwan's leader earlier this year, Lai Ching-te has repeatedly promoted his democracy at public events. In his "inaugural speech" on May 20, Lai praised Taiwan as "a global beacon" of democracy and claimed its connection to the world through peace and prosperity.

The latest effort to peddle this cliche by the Lai Ching-te authorities was on October 4 when meeting with a transatlantic delegation from the Washington, D.C.-based think tank German Marshall Fund. Blaming the Chinese mainland for continuing to "intimidate" and "threaten" Taiwan both politically and militarily, Lai proposed "united efforts" with the United States and the EU, among other democracies, to uphold the "democratic umbrella" so that they could face the alleged authoritarian expansionism from the mainland.

The fundamental motivation behind the Lai authorities' efforts to harp on the same theme, i.e., working with Western democracies jointly to confront what they call the "authoritarian" Chinese mainland, is to push forward the illegally separatist agenda, thus seeking "Taiwan independence."

In other words, the argument of "democracy vs. authoritarianism" proposed by the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities is being utilized as a political tool to achieve the pro-separatist party's self-interested and illegal purpose of "Taiwan independence."

When the mainland adopted timely and proper countermeasures against the Lai authorities' provocative actions, however, the latter doubled down on their "Taiwan independence" agenda through joint efforts with external forces, notably the U.S., EU and Japan, to balance what they call the "China threat." The Lai authorities blackened the name of the mainland, asserting that it has been increasingly "threatening" Taiwan's security while overlooking their own aggressive and unlawful moves.

This is how the Lai authorities' democratic platitudes work, and it's not a new tactic invented by Lai. Since the election of Tsai Ing-wen as the regional leader of Taiwan in 2016, the Tsai authorities have been aggressively promoting the significance of the region in terms of democratic value.

To gain political points, Tsai spared no pains to spread Taiwan's "fight for democracy" and the necessity to work hand in hand with Western democratic partners "against the mainland" – particularly since the escalation of the Ukrainian crisis in February 2022 – for the sake of preventing the mainland from resorting similar means against Taiwan.

There is little doubt that the DPP authorities' attempt to "link" the tense cross-strait ties with the escalated Ukraine crisis is unreasonable, malicious, and groundless. At any rate, unlike Ukraine with a status of sovereign state, Taiwan is an inalienable part of China and there is but one China in the world. This is an internationally recognized consensus since the founding of the People's Republic of China since 1949.

Yet the DPP authorities' illegal actions of advocating Taiwan's democratic values ​​and relying on the external forces to seek "independence" have received a positive response from the Biden administration. To contain China's growing influence, the Biden administration has been substantially strengthening U.S. connections with the Taiwan region in terms of defense, security, economy and technology in the past three years, unprecedentedly playing the "Taiwan card" against the Chinese mainland.

As a consequence, the DPP authorities' collusion with external forces to seek "Taiwan independence," along with growing U.S. and its allies' interference in the Taiwan question, will inevitably intensify hostility and confrontation across the Taiwan Straits, worsening Taiwan's security situation. This is absolutely a disregard for the security interests and well-being of millions of people in Taiwan. It is indeed an act that deviates from true democracy.

To restore and maintain peace, stability, and prosperity across the Straits, the Taiwan authorities should abandon their misguided efforts to provoke the mainland under the guise of democratic rhetoric. Instead, they must recognize that any attempt to pursue "independence" is destined to fail and backfire. Policies should be crafted with the welfare of all Taiwan residents in mind, as well as the shared interests of people on both sides of the Taiwan Straits, rather than serving the self-interest of the DPP party.

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