Indy Taiwan

The latest from the bully that is China is that it will “criminally prosecute” all those who support Taiwanese independence. Make that persecute.

This isn’t about criminal proceedings in a nation-state that has a robust and well-developed body of laws that it asks its citizens to obey. Normally, a society already has an excellent idea of what can and cannot be tolerated, and over the decades, it develops a legal system that incorporates and reflects its moral beliefs. The populace commanded to follow those laws will, more likely than not, be receptive to complying, as they instinctively understand the ethical and moral rationale for those laws.

But China is different. This particular state just makes up new laws on the spot to hound Taiwan into submission, and then sics those laws onto its unfortunate cousin, just to see what will work. Just like its unilateral declaration of ownership over the Western Philippine Sea and the idiotic nine-dash line, China is fond of imposing its will on its smaller neighbors.

Per news reports, Taiwan’s top leaders have been put into a special blacklist by China. That blacklist reportedly means these politicians cannot get cooperation or funding from mainlanders, and they won’t even be allowed to enter China. Or its territories like Hong Kong and Macau.

Bummer. They will no longer be able to eat egg tarts or go on a gambling holiday. The price of being pro-independence. Ah well. The food in Taiwan is so much better-tasting. And probably more hygienic too.

That denial of entry to Hong Kong is familiar. It was a fate already suffered by our Secretary of Foreign Affairs Albert del Rosario and Ombudswoman Conchita Carpio Morales when they tried to enter Hong Kong territory. Although, it was still a good turn of events when China allowed them to return to the Philippines. What would have been a nightmare was if our eminent critics had been shipped to the concentration camps in Xinjiang run by the Chinese government for the Uyghur Muslim minority.

If Secretary Del Rosario and Ombudswoman Morales can take being deprived of HK Disneyland, I’m sure Taiwan’s prime minister can, too. So many other, more pleasant, destinations possible.

The quote from the Chinese messenger of doom, Zhu Fenglian, is ominous: “Those who forget their ancestors betray the motherland and split the country, will never end up well, and will be spurned by the people and judged by history”.

Fighting words, Madame Zhu. But not necessarily true on all occasions. For example, is that speech something you can repeat to the distinctively Chinese face of Michelle Wu, the newly elected Taiwanese-American Mayor of Boston?

After all, just like my grandfather, Michelle’s Taiwanese parents presumably left the motherland in search of a much better life than what was available to them in Communist China. And they became American, to boot. How’s that for forgetting their ancestry? A double whammy slapped on Chinese propagandists.

“Leave China! Find better opportunities elsewhere! Settle in Taiwan! Or anywhere else in the world! Become successes, unshackled by Chinese communist party leaders who gobble up opportunities for themselves and their kin! Run for Mayor in America! Then score a decisive victory!” That’s the message I’m getting from those Chinese “traitors”.

Becoming the mayor of Boston is a status that we can all agree cannot be categorized as “not ending up well”. Ended up pretty darn well, if you ask me. It’s a victory for Asian Americans, and a positively gleeful moment for Taiwanese everywhere.

Including in that independent nation that is Taiwan.