President Tsai Ing-Wen, who confirmed reelection.(photo:AFP/Aflo)

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Tsai Ing-Wen Reelected as President

“We are an independent country already and we call ourselves the Republic of China, Taiwan.”–

 
President Tsai Ing-Wen from the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), who was reelected as President in January’s Taiwan presidential election, made the above statement, drawing a clear line with China during an interview with BBC. This was the first time that President Tsai made a statement this bold regarding the sovereignty of Taiwan.

Details

China Keeps Taiwan in Check

The biggest issue for this presidential election was the policy towards China. President Tsai made clear her attitude to confront the aggression from China, winning with a record-high vote of 8,170,231.

After the election, President Tsai stated that she was able to protect the values of democracy. She met successively with Japan and U.S.’s envoys, reaffirming Taiwan’s ties with them.

Meanwhile, China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared that “there is one China in this world, and the fundamental fact that Taiwan is part of China remains unchanged,” making their stance very clear.

How to Perceive:

Military Actions From China Are Approaching

This was the seventh time that Taiwan’s presidential election had been in the form of a direct election. The political administration has changed three times, and President Tsai claims that Taiwan has established itself as a “nation” with democratic roots.

Amid this, the possibility of military actions by China is rising. This is partly caused by China’s economic plateau.

Ryuho Okawa, CEO of Happy Science, has cautioned in his lecture in December 2019, “To the New Age of Prosperity,” that, “After its recession, China will attempt to collect its money from its borrowers from The Belt and Road Initiative, and when this doesn’t happen, they will resort to taking military actions.”

Prior to this, China has used its Belt and Road Initiative, a plan that imagined the construction of a large unified market, in order to maintain infrastructures such as ports, railroads, and roads around the world. However, if countries are not able to return their debt, China would take their infrastructures as security for the loan. This is in reality an invasion.

For instance, in 2017, Sri Lanka signed a contract to lend Hambantota Port, its third international port, to China’s state enterprise for 99 years.

Essentially, China is creating its military footing around the world with its Belt and Road Initiative. These kinds of actions will escalate in the future.

Furthermore, Master Okawa has stated in “The Laws of Steel” Lecture in January 2020, that China’s military will start to attack places such as Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Senkaku Islands soon. “Substantial numbers of Chinese official ships have come, and there have been many missile bases that has been built on the southern shores of China. Therefore, it is likely that the arrival of a Chinese official ship and the spontaneous shooting of a missile will happen soon,” pointed out Master.

In fact, when Chinese official ships invaded the territorial waters of the Senkaku Islands in the past, they expanded their surface-to-ship missiles in coastal areas and flew their bombers. In addition, they commissioned China’s first domestically produced aircraft carrier, Shandong, and Asia’s largest destroyer, Nanchang, prior to and following Taiwan’s presidential election. It seems as if they are taking sure steps to steadily prepare for their military action.

In the U.S.-China Trade War, China’s economy took a downturn and criticism towards the Xi Jinping administration erupted in the nation. The year 2021 is the 100th anniversary for the Chinese Communist Party, and the Xi administration will take a forceful stance to display their power to both domestic and foreign parties.

Japan, who is in fact the leader of Asia, needs to get on the same footing with the United States, who share common values of freedom, democracy, and faith, and strengthen its ties with Taiwan in order to create a deterrence against China’s spontaneous discharge.