Focus Taiwan
Date: 01/19/2020
By: Chou Shih-hui and Joseph Yeh

San Francisco, Jan. 19 (CNA) China is unlikely to back down from its hardline stance against Taiwan in the wake of the Jan. 11 general elections that resoundingly gave Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) a second term, according to an American scholar.

Larry Diamond, a professor of sociology and political science at Stanford University and a senior fellow at the school's Hoover Institution, told CNA in a recent interview that the Chinese communists never seem to learn from history, despite the lessons that intimidation against Taiwan "will not work."

Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) has been a "calamitous failure" as leader of his country, and the Taiwan election results were the latest indication of that, but there are no signs that the Chinese communists are waking up to reality, said Diamond, who was one of the foreign observers in Taiwan during the election.

"As a result, I predict more tensions and intimidation ahead and the need for strong nerves, clear resolve, and sustained partnership between the U.S. and Taiwan to defend the sovereignty and security of the Republic of China, Taiwan," he said.    [FULL  STORY]