On this episode of China Uncensored
Finally!
Election coverage America cares about
and doesn't involved Donald Trump!
Hi, welcome to China Uncensored I'm your host Chris Chappell.
Chinese voters on Saturday elected a new president:
Tsai Ing-wen!
And by Chinese voters,
I mean the people of Taiwan.
Not the people living in the other China,
the one without elections
even though their leader is still called the "president" for some reason.
Still waiting for that interview, by the way.
Now sure, Taiwan has a democracy.
But according to my favorite Chinese state-run media Global Times,
"the 'one person, one vote' system in Taiwan is not mature."
By which, I assume, they mean
it's less mature than mainland China's
"one person, no vote" system.
Clearly superior.
Anyway, not only did Tsai Ing-wen win Taiwan's election by a pretty big margin,
her party, the DPP, also took 60 percent of the seats in parliament.
The opposing KMT party,
which has been leading Taiwan for the last eight years,
suffered a big defeat.
Now the US government has been watching this election closely
because US-Taiwan relations are,
let's say, politically sensitive with respect to mainland China.
Tsai Ing-wen's party, the DPP,
is known for taking a more pro-independence stance.
That is, asserting that Taiwan is not just another province of China,
but its own sovereign entity.
You can learn more about that issue here.
The Communist Party,
in no subtle terms,
disagrees with this stance.
The Chinese Communist Party has hundreds of missiles aimed at Taiwan and has promised
to use force to take back the island if it declares independence.
They even held Taiwan invasion training drills last year.
Global Times, always the rational voice,
responded to Tsai's election by saying any pushes for independence were mere "hallucinations"
and that if she were to "cross the red line of cross-Straits relations, she will meet
a dead end."
Hopefully that's just a poor choice of words,
and not a thinly veiled death threat.
But you can understand why Tsai's election could be upsetting to the Communist Party.
The outgoing political party, the KMT
has for the past eight years pushed for closer ties with mainland China.
They signed an important trade agreement,
encouraged cross-straight tourism,
and made it easier for mainland companies to invest in Taiwan and vice versa.
Now Tsai hasn't exactly been against ties with mainland China.
Her China policy has just been intentionally vague.
So will Tsai push for Taiwan independence?
And will that mean the Communist Party will invade Taiwan,
forcing the US to fulfill its promise to come to Taiwan's defense
sparking the deadliest US military conflict in Asia since the Vietnam war?
No.
No, that's not going to happen.
Less than 10 percent of Taiwan's citizens actually want Taiwan to declare independence.
The great majority want to preserve the status quo:
That is, just leave it in the current, sort of awkward state.
So if Tsai is smart
and by all accounts she is
she's going to go with... status quo.
Understandably, though, the US is concerned that even without a war,
there could be some rocky relations with mainland China.
When relations are smooth,
the US can free up its resources to deal withall the other rocky relations the US is involved with.
But even smooth relations, well…
the Communist Party has a plan for that, too.
As the Communist Party worked with the KMT to build stronger economic ties,
Taiwan has become increasingly dependant on mainland China.
Case in point:
Taiwanese born singer Chou Tzu-yu,
member of the K-pop group Twice.
During her appearance on a variety show on South Korean TV,
she waived the Taiwan flag.
Then Chinese people,
including possibly the same type of 50-cent commentators who write pro-CCP things on my
YouTube channel,
were upset. Outraged, in fact.
How dare she wave the official Taiwan flag...
while in Korea?
Long story short,
after a media firestorm,
Chou was forced to apologize.
And now she's taking a break from performing in China so she can, you know,
reflect seriously on her actions.
Many think her Korean management company JYP Entertainment felt this apology was necessary to,
you guessed it,
preserve their access to the Chinese market.
So suffice it to say,
Cross-Strait relations are complicated.
Nobody wants war.
But a lot of people on both sides don't like the way things are.
And the CCP is using economics to control Taiwan.
In other words, Tsai's got her work cut out for her.
But Beijing wouldn't be wise to underestimate her.
A leaked US embassy cable called her, "extremely capable and very persuasive."
Plus she likes cats.
And we know how dangerous cats are.
So what do you think is next for Taiwan?
Do you think Taiwan should be independent?
Leave your comments below and
Oh hey, what's this?
How did this get here?
Anyway, thanks for watching this episode of China Uncensored,
once again I'm Chris Chappell, see you next time.
"There is only one China.
The two shores are one.
I apologize for hurting the feelings of the Chinese people with my reckless actions.
I will reflect on this seriously."
Can I go now?