Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

There are many reasons for the Democratic Progressive Party’s (DPP) losses in the local elections on Nov. 24 last year. To sum up, today’s government and civic society only see the trees — pensions, support for the LGBT community, the five-day workweek and so on — but the more crucial “China factor” is not a priority.

There are two aspects to the China factor: infiltration and discourse. Despite this, the government’s response to China, in particular when it comes to the economy, is lacking and out of touch with reality.

The US Defense Intelligence Agency last week released a report titled China Military Power: Modernizing a Force to Fight and Win. It contains warnings for US military planners and policymakers, and should serve as a wake-up call to Taiwanese unaware of, or reluctant to acknowledge, the threat posed by the Chinese Communist Party.

The essence of the report is that China has long been building a powerful, modern military and is now at the cutting edge of weapons development, in some cases even outpacing the US.