Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

Myanmar’s National Unity Government (NUG), the democratic government-in-exile, on Jan. 2 issued its official position on China, pledging to “safeguard Chinese economic investments and other socioeconomic enterprises within Myanmar.” The document also stated that “the ‘one China principle’ will be upheld and supported in a sustained manner.”

Conflict in Myanmar has persisted for more than 70 years, during which the nation has been subjected to successive repressive military regimes, except for a brief period of democracy from 2015 until a military coup in February 2021. Following the coup, the intensity of the fighting has increased, with the emergence of new ethnic resistance armies and existing ones forming alliances. These groups are now executing coordinated strikes against the military. There is a glimmer of hope for the first time that the military might finally fall, and China is a significant stakeholder in the outcome of the war.

The Democratic Progressive Party’s unprecedented third consecutive presidential election victory and winning of 51 seats in the Legislative Yuan, against 52 seats for the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT), is a resounding vindication of the democracy and sovereignty of 23 million freedom-loving Taiwanese, the bulk of whom were born after Chiang Kai-shek’s (蔣介石) regime evacuated to Taiwan in 1949.

The world’s democracies have also rejoiced in the festival of democracy and its triumph in Taiwan. Having failed to influence the election outcome through overt and covert means, Beijing made a virtue out of necessity, saying that it was an internal matter of China. It is high time that China sees the writing on the wall.