Netizens use slogans such as 'Mainland Taiwan,' 'Taiwanese Beijing' after Tsai's bold BBC interview

Taiwan News
Date: 2020/01/16
By: Keoni Everington, Taiwan News, Staff Writer

TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — After an interview with the BBC aired on Tuesday (Jan. 14) in which the newly re-elected President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) took a more defiant stance against Beijing, Western netizens had a field day conjuring up new slogans guaranteed to hurt the feelings of communist Chinese.

In the BBC interview, Tsai proclaimed that Taiwan is already an independent country and that China needs to face this "reality." She also said that the communist country should give Taiwan "more respect" and that an invasion by the People's Liberation Army (PLA) would be "very costly."

When asked about the possibility of declaring Taiwan's independence, Tsai said, "We don't have a need to declare ourselves an independent state because we are an independent country already." She pointed out that the country is called the Republic of China, Taiwan and has its own government, military, and elections.

In terms of the risk of war with China, Tsai said military preparedness is important but that international support for their cause is even more important. When asked if Taiwan could stand up to an outright attack by China, Tsai said that the country has strengthened its capabilities and that "Invading Taiwan is something that is going to be very costly for China."    [FULL  STORY]