China threatens to crush any bid for independence in Taiwan elections

A day ahead of crucial elections on the self-ruled island, which Beijing considers part of its territory, China’s military has threatened to “suppress” any efforts to promote Taiwan’s independence.

Hundreds of thousands of people took part in the latest election rallies in Taiwan on Friday ahead of key presidential and parliamentary elections on Saturday.

“The Chinese People’s Liberation Army remains ever vigilant and will take all necessary measures to resolutely suppress ‘Taiwan independence’ efforts of all kinds,” Chinese Defense Ministry spokesman Zhang Xiaogang said in a statement.

Responding to a question about Taiwan’s air force modernizing its F-16 fighter jets and buying more from the United States, Xiaogang said that even with US arms purchases, the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) “cannot stop the trend toward complete reunification of the homeland”.

Taiwan has been a democratic success story since holding its first direct presidential election in 1996, the culmination of a decades-long struggle against authoritarian rule and martial law.

The DPP, which supports Taiwan’s separate identity and rejects China’s territorial claims, is seeking a third term with its candidate, current Vice President Lai Ching-te.

China portrayed the election as a choice between “peace and war”, calling the DPP dangerous separatists and urging Taiwanese to make the “right choice”.

The DPP has rejected China’s claims of sovereignty and declared that only the people of Taiwan can decide their future. At a rally in Taipei’s neighboring city of New Taipei, Lai said the world was watching how Taiwan voted.

“If Taiwan gets closer to China again, Taiwan will lose its advantage and foreign investment in Taiwan is more likely to be suspended or stopped,” he told the crowd.

“Therefore, Taiwan must win this battle.”

China has repeatedly condemned Lai in the run-up to Saturday’s election and rejected his repeated calls for talks.

Al Jazeera reported from Taipei that Taiwan had observed Chinese military actions “in the background” in recent weeks.

“There have been military exercises, information balloons flying overhead, and we even saw a Chinese satellite trigger an island-wide alert last week,” Cheng said.

Lai faces two challengers for the presidency: Hou Yu-ih of Taiwan’s largest opposition party Kuomintang (KMT) and former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je of the small Taiwan People’s Party (TPP), which was only founded in 2019.

Hou wants to resume cooperation with China, starting with people-to-people exchanges, and, like China, has accused Lain of supporting Taiwan’s formal independence. Lai said Hou was pro-Beijing, which Hou denied.

“If Lai Ching-te is elected, the Taiwan Strait will probably be in turmoil. Do you want Taiwan to go to war too?” Hou told his supporters.

Ko has won a passionate support base, especially among young voters, for focusing on bread issues and the high cost of housing. He also wants to re-engage China, but insists that this must not come at the expense of protecting Taiwan’s democracy and way of life.

However, “all three parties see China as a threat and their platforms are almost the same on China, so this [election] can only be about domestic issues.”

Polling stations open at 8:00 am local time and close at 4:00 pm, with hand counting beginning almost immediately.

The result should be clear by Saturday evening at the latest, when the losers accept the result and the winner gives a victory speech./The Geopost/