Thread: The View, from China

Originally Posted by OhOh

The article's title, I suggest, is self-explanatory.

But you have to read between the lines and read the facts and don't forget to sing sing.

"Asian countries are buying U.S. military equipment because they feel threaten by Chinkystan."
♪ ♪ They then say some nice words about neutrality being always friendly and ready to please, ♪ ♪ because they want to get above your knees. ♪ ♪

26 Nov, 2022 23:24 HomeWorld News

Taiwan’s ruling party suffers election defeat

President Tsai Ing-wen framed local elections as a referendum on her battle for Taiwan’s “freedom and democracy” .

"Taiwanese president Tsai Ing-wen has assumed all “responsibility” and stepped down as the head of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) following a series of election defeats to the opposition candidates, who focused their campaign on local issues and maintaining peace without being overly confrontational with Beijing.On Saturday, the residents of Taiwan went to the polls to pick mayors in nine cities, as well as city council members and other local leaders all across the island. In a major defeat to the ruling party, the opposition Kuomintang (KMT) won key mayoral races in the capital city of Taipei, Taoyuan and Keelung, in addition to a string of other victories, leaving the DPP in control of only five out of the 21 local government offices, according to preliminary results.

“The results failed our expectations. We humbly accept the results and accept the Taiwanese people's decision,” Tsai told reporters at party headquarters on Saturday evening, announcing her resignation as the DPP head, which she also did after a similarly poor showing in 2018.

Beijing welcomed the results as proof that the people of Taiwan overwhelmingly support peace, stability and “a good life,” with China's Taiwan Affairs Office promising to continue its work to promote peaceful relations and to oppose foreign interference and calls for Taiwan independence.

Despite a largely symbolic resignation, Tsai is set to remain the island’s leader until the end of her second term 2024. She won by a landslide in 2020 on promises to stand up to Beijing, but won’t be able to run again because of term limits.

Ahead of the Saturday’s vote, Tsai repeatedly described local elections as yet another “chance to show the international community Taiwan's persistence and resolve to defend freedom and democracy,” and urged undecided voters to “please cast this vote for me, for candidates I am recommending.”

The opposition KMT also voiced its commitment to protecting the island’s freedom and democracy, but without being as confrontational with Beijing as the DPP.

While Tsai had repeatedly raised the issue of “opposing China and defending Taiwan” during the campaign, the opposition as well as her own party’s candidates focused instead on local problems such as air pollution, traffic issues and the island’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Taiwan has governed itself since nationalist forces led by Chiang Kai-shek fled to the island in 1949, after they lost a civil war to the Communists. Beijing’s position is that Taiwan is an integral part of China – the so-called ‘One China’ policy – and that China “will inevitably be reunified.”

The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party last month enshrined the opposition to Taiwanese separatism in the patry’s constitution, after re-electing Chinese leader Xi Jinping for a third term. The Chinese president said that while Beijing seeks “peaceful reunification” with the island, he could not “promise to give up the use of force” and reserves the option “to take all necessary measures.” "

Taiwan’s ruling party suffers election defeat — RT World News

Tsai Ing-wen announces resignation as DPP chair

Xinhua | Updated: 2022-11-26 21:59

"TAIPEI -- Tsai Ing-wen announced her resignation as the chair of the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) late Saturday, to take responsibility for the party's performance in Taiwan's local elections."

https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/2022...47eba13f0.html
The people of China have spoken.

Originally Posted by OhOh

Covid causing fires, interesting adaptation.

Can Xi put out this fire?


Protesters call for Xi to resign amid unprecedented unrest over China's COVID-19 measures


Protesters angered by strict COVID-19 measures called for China's powerful leader to resign, a rare rebuke as authorities in at least eight cities struggled to suppress demonstrations Sunday that represent a rare direct challenge to the ruling Communist Party.

The wave of civil disobedience is unprecedented in mainland China since President Xi Jinping assumed power a decade ago, as frustration mounts over his signature zero-COVID policy nearly three years into the pandemic. The COVID-19 measures are also exacting a heavy toll on the world's second-largest economy.

The protests — which began Friday and have spread to cities including the capital, Beijing, and dozens of university campuses — are the most widespread show of opposition to the ruling party in decades.

Police using pepper spray drove away demonstrators in Shanghai who called for Xi to step down and an end to one-party rule, but hours later people rallied again in the same spot. Police again broke up the demonstration, and a reporter saw protesters under arrest being driven away in a bus.In a video of the protest in Shanghai verified by The Associated Press, chants against Xi, the most powerful leader since at least the 1980s, and the Chinese Communist Party sounded loud and clear: "Xi Jinping! Step down! CCP! Step down!" People also held up blank sheets of paper as an expression of protest.

A large crowd also gathered in the southwestern metropolis of Chengdu, according to videos on social media, where they also held up blank sheets of paper and chanted: "We don't want lifelong rulers. We don't want emperors," a reference to Xi, who has scrapped presidential term limits.

At the campus of Beijing's Tsinghua University, a large crowd gathered, according to images and videos posted on social media. Some people also held blank sheets of paper.

In the central city of Wuhan, where the pandemic began three years ago, videos on social media showed hundreds of residents take to the streets, smashing through metal barricades, overturning COVID-19 testing tents and demanding an end to lockdowns.

Other cities that have seen public dissent include Lanzhou in the northwest, where residents on Saturday overturned COVID-19 staff tents and smashed testing booths, posts on social media showed. Protesters said they were put under lockdown even though no one had tested positive.

Anger over deadly fire

The current protests erupted after a fire broke out Thursday, killing at least 10 people in an apartment building in the city of Urumqi in the northwest, where some have been locked in their homes for four months.

That prompted an outpouring of angry questions online about whether firefighters or people trying to escape were blocked by locked doors or other restrictions.

Urumqi officials abruptly held a news conference on Saturday to deny that pandemic measures had hampered escape and rescue efforts.


Three years after COVID-19 emerged, China is the only major country still trying to stop transmission of COVID-19. Its "zero COVID" strategy has suspended access to neighbourhoods for weeks at a time. Some cities carry out daily virus tests on millions of residents.


People who are quarantined at home in some areas say they lack food and medicine. The ruling party faced public anger following the deaths of two children whose parents said anti-virus controls hampered efforts to get medical help.

China defends its COVID-19 policies as life-saving and necessary to prevent overwhelming the health-care system. Officials have vowed to continue with it despite the growing public pushback and its mounting toll on the world's second-biggest economy.
Protest extremely rare

Widespread public protest is extremely rare in China, where room for dissent has been all but eliminated under Xi, forcing citizens mostly to vent on social media, where they play cat-and-mouse with censors.


Frustration is boiling just over a month after Xi secured a third term at the helm of China's Communist Party.


"This will put serious pressure on the party to respond. There is a good chance that one response will be repression, and they will arrest and prosecute some protesters," said Dan Mattingly, assistant professor of political science at Yale University.


Still, he said, the unrest is far from that seen in 1989, when protests culminated in the bloody crackdown in Tiananmen Square. He added that as long as Xi had China's elite and the army on his side, he would not face any meaningful risk to his hold on power.


This weekend, Xinjiang Communist Party Secretary Ma Xingrui called for the region to step up security maintenance and curb the "illegal violent rejection of COVID-prevention measures."


Xinjiang officials have also said public transport services will gradually resume starting Monday in Urumqi.

Protesters call for Xi to resign amid unprecedented unrest over China'''s COVID-19 measures | CBC News