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| Click here for the video. 46’20”. |
It’s from Channel News Asia, recently my default cable for news. Pretty good. My key inference: it’s Xi Jinping who is responsible for China’s tougher foreign stance, in turn for Hong Kong demonstrations, in turn for Taiwan spurning One Country Two Systems (“dead on arrival” says Chin Hao Huang, above), in turn for Taiwan abandoning any thought of getting closer to China, let alone unification. (Closer ties and even reunification were a trend not so long ago).
President Tsai Ing-wen playing off this for political gain is nothing more or less than politics, which she seems to be playing skilfully to keep herself in office at next year’s election.
Xi’s toughness may play well at home (even then one wonders) but in the region and the world it’s backfiring. Trust of China has plummeted around Asia. Ditto the world. He was talking about soft power at one time. He is a case study in how not to do it. He blew it.
