Beijing’s treatment of Taipei is horrendous and we should tell them

Tourists on Pingtan island, one of communist China’s closest points to Taiwan, get a front-row seat to Thursday’s exercises by the PLA. Picture: AFP

In three weeks, I’ll mark one year since moving to Taiwan. Will Beijing’s blockade of this beautiful liberal democracy still be underway when the date arrives?

To live in Taiwan is to experience the best and worst of humanity.

Right now, Beijing is firing ballistic missiles over the island and staging a blockade in chilling display of its military strength. It is horrendous behaiviour.

The stoicism of most of its 23 million people in the face of routine threats of military annihilation is incredible.

“I was here during the 1996 crisis. I was in high school … We’ve been through it. We know what’s going to happen,” said Jack, 40.

That was before China shot five ballistic missiles over Japanese waters, behaviour that is commonplace for North Korea, but was unprecedented for Beijing. Not any more.

Bad sentiment towards Beijing keeps rising in Taiwan, no surprise when you review the actions of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s administration.

A survey by the Brookings Institution found 63 per cent of Taiwanese had a negative view of the People’s Republic of China government. Only 8 per cent had a positive view and even that rump is more complicated when you speak to them.

Take Kaidee Lee, 71, who I suspect would tick the “positive” box if surveyed. He was one of the few dozen protesters outside Taiwan’s parliament on Wednesday. “Communist China has changed quite a bit … People on this island should seek rapprochement with the PRC,” he said.

Before Xi ended China’s two-term limit for the presidency, promoted a leadership cult and snuffed civic life in Hong Kong, more people shared that view.

Even senior figures of the Kuomintang (KMT) – which Beijing has marked as its preferred party as it freezes the ruling Democratic Progress Party (DPP) – tell me privately, if they return to power, they would only use discussions to kick the issue into the future.

The six PLA drill locations around Taiwan

Their strategy is to outlive Xi and see what comes next. It is not without logic.

President Tsai Ing-wen’s ruling DPP puts more emphasise on building up Taiwan’s self-defence forces and strengthening its relationships with the United States, Japan and other partners, including Australia. It is also a strategy not without logic.

Much of Taiwanese history and politics is extremely complicated, but some things could not be simpler. Almost 12 months in, I am yet to meet anyone here who wants to be ruled by the communist party. Would you?

Even Mr Lee, the protester outside Taiwan’s parliament, was angry because the visiting US house speaker wasn’t announcing that Washington would again officially recognise his country.

“If (Nancy Pelosi) is for democracy and human rights, as she stated, then why not restore diplomatic ties?” he said.

It is a fair question with an unfair answer. If America made that change, the communist party has declared it would destroy Taiwan.

Let us all hope that one day in the future, Beijing could be something closer to the peaceful state it claims to be.

Perhaps one day, Beijing’s claims that it is a democracy that opposes hegemony will be a statement of fact, rather than risible doublespeak.

I lived in Beijing in 2020. Much of the history and politics of the People’s Republic of China is also extremely complicated.

But some things are as blunt as the military force Xi has set on what he claims are his compatriots. Beijing’s treatment of Taiwan is awful. We should tell them so very clearly.