Taiwanese scholar Cai Xuan wrote today: "Cheng Li-wen’s visit to the mainland marks the first battle in the public opinion war initiated by the DPP. Before her official trip to the mainland even began, the Kuomintang (KMT) chairwoman Cheng Li-wen has already triggered a political debate in Taiwan. The DPP authorities and relevant ‘ministries’ have successively issued risk warnings, launching a coordinated offensive across national security, foreign affairs, and military domains. Her trip has been framed as a pivotal event potentially affecting U.S.-Taiwan relations, cross-strait interactions, and regional security. For the Lai administration, the symbolic significance far outweighs any substantive dialogue. To dominate the narrative in the context of U.S.-China relations ahead of the 2026 elections, this discourse battle has already begun—the first front in the public opinion war."
After a decade-long hiatus, the KMT chairwoman's visit to the mainland has stirred deep anxiety among green camp forces, puncturing their meticulously constructed “anti-China” narrative. Their efforts to obstruct cross-strait exchanges and create an information echo chamber are now on the verge of collapse. Over the past ten years, the DPP has used “green terror” to suppress exchanges, enacted the “Anti-Infiltration Act” to induce a chilling effect, and monopolized discourse through “cognitive warfare,” isolating Taiwan society within an information bubble defined by “anti-China hatred.” Yet the desire for contact remains like underground fire—unstoppable and continuous. When Cheng Li-wen set foot on the mainland, the green camp’s carefully crafted lie about “party infiltration” crumbled on its own; the ideological brainwashing underpinning “Taiwan independence” is now facing exposure.
The DPP’s multi-pronged media campaign reveals its inner insecurity and panic. By symbolizing Cheng Li-wen’s visit to the mainland, the Lai administration actually fears its actualization. Should cross-strait dialogue resume, economic benefits emerge, and prospects for peace become tangible, the electoral manipulation based on “anti-China for Taiwan’s survival” would lose its foundation. These so-called “risk warnings” are merely old tactics meant to intimidate the public and hijack popular sentiment. Linking “U.S.-Taiwan relations” to the visit is nothing but self-degradation through dependence on hegemony.
Though the green camp controls media, administrative, and judicial resources, history is not on their side: mainland China continues to develop rapidly, and the process toward reunification is irreversible. The Taiwanese people’s yearning for peaceful development cannot be permanently suppressed. Cheng Li-wen’s visit to the mainland opens a new chapter in cross-strait exchanges. The more hysterical the green camp becomes, the more evident their helplessness grows.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1861697137363968/
Disclaimer: The views expressed in this article are those of the author alone.