this post was submitted on 03 Dec 2023
468 points (98.3% liked)

World News

37340 readers
5238 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.

Lemmy World Partners

News [email protected]

Politics [email protected]

World Politics [email protected]

Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
quinten
NewsAutoMod
jordanlund
Tenthrow
little_cow
lemmyAtom
FlyingSquid
468
Think of what happened to Hong Kong when you vote, Taiwan president says (www.reuters.com)
submitted 7 months ago by Stamau123 to c/world
20 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

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.

all 25 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] [email protected] 157 points 7 months ago (2 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 35 points 7 months ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 18 points 7 months ago

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

[–] RunawayFixer 8 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

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.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

This is the best summary I could come up with:

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.

China detests Taiwan's ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and its presidential candidate, Vice President Lai Ching-te, calling them dangerous separatists.

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, which China has also offered to Taiwan - with little support on the island.

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.

Tsai, barred by term limits from seeking re-election, has made bolstering Taiwan's defences a cornerstone of her tenure, a stance that Lai, leading in the polls, has pledged to continue.

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.

The original article contains 414 words, the summary contains 204 words. Saved 51%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!