TAIPEI: China’s leadership knows that sabre rattling around Taiwan to force an outcome to its liking in elections does not work and Beijing is not likely to try such actions ahead of January’s presidential vote, the Taiwanese foreign minister said on Thursday (Sep 28).
China has never renounced the use of force to bring democratically governed Taiwan under its control, viewing the island as one of its provinces.
In 1996, China lobbed missiles into the Taiwan Strait to try to intimidate the island’s voters against voting for Lee Teng-hui as president, whom Beijing despised for his perceived pro-independence sympathies. That triggered the so-called Third Taiwan Strait Crisis, in which the US Navy carried out a massive show of force in the strait. Lee won the election in a landslide.
Taiwan will hold its next presidential and parliamentary election in January, with Vice President William Lai of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party the favourite to be Taiwan’s next leader, according to opinion polls.
“The historical lesson is that the more China adopts a forceful way of intervening in our election, it’s going to backfire, and I think the Chinese leaders know that very well,” Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu told a news conference in Taipei.
Source: CNA
