The DPP’s policy here seems completely antithetical to the KMT’s and it honestly seems like the DPP is more interested in poking the hornet’s nest than taking action to actually maintain independence. The CPC’s primary policy goal in Taiwan in the past hasn’t been to reintegrate (despite all the posturing), but to make sure that the two China’s are more or less aligned internationally. Essentially, China is to the Taiwan like the US is to Canada or Russia is to Kazakhstan: theoretically independent, but incredibly co-dependent. They don’t want a Cuba on their doorstep, but they’re unwilling to pursue more drastic actions because it’s basically impossible nowadays to portray Taiwan as an “outsider” and an enemy to the domestic population.

The KMT’s position respected this in many ways and opted for closer trade ties under the implicit agreement that Taiwan’s sovereignty wouldn’t be militarily infringed and no one needed to talk about what the actual definition of Taiwanese independence was. The DPP has been actively harming trade with China and aligning with the US, which has broken the status quo established by the KMT… which seems far more congruent with US interests than Taiwanese ones.

I suppose this shouldn’t be surprising given how much US funding has poured into the DPP, but I’m still disappointed. It’s a bilateral escalation of tensions in a region already fraught with tensions.