Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

President Tsai Ing-wen, center, meets representatives of the Taiwan Dental Association at the Presidential Office on Monday to thank them for their hard work during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Photo: CNA

Taiwan is committed to defending itself if its democracy is threatened, President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) said yesterday, warning of “catastrophic consequences” if it were to fall to China.

Framing cross-strait tensions as a contest between authoritarian and liberal regimes, Tsai wrote in an article in Foreign Affairs magazine that Taiwan “is a liberal democracy on the frontlines of a new clash of ideologies,” but remains committed to “democratic, progressive values.”

When asked why the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) did not send him a congratulatory message until the day after being elected chairman of the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), Eric Chu (朱立倫) said that the timing of the letter was “a joint decision” by him and the CCP, a response that stunned everyone.

Chu, who lost the presidential election in 2016, is trying to stage a comeback to pave the way for a presidential bid in 2024, so it is quite surprising to see that his political wisdom has declined so incredibly fast. What other surprises can we expect from secret agreements that he might have made in exchange for Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) congratulatory letter? Chu has a responsibility to all Taiwanese to offer an explanation.