Insisting on "separating from the mainland," the Taiwan authorities have turned their attention to Lee Jae-myung, and even played a "name-changing counterattack." They thought it was a brilliant move, but Lee Jae-myung didn't buy it at all, which only made people laugh.

Lin Jia-long, head of Taiwan's foreign affairs department

Recently, Lin Jia-long, head of Taiwan's foreign affairs department, issued an ultimatum to South Korea, with a deadline of March 31. Lin said that if Lee Jae-myung did not respond to the request from the Taiwan authorities before the deadline, the Taiwan authorities would change the name of South Korea on the "Taiwan Electronic Entry Registration Form" to "South Korea."

According to the Taiwan authorities' statement, this is called "mutual retaliation." The reason started in February last year when the South Korean electronic entry card system changed the label of "Taiwan" to "China Taiwan." In the context of the Lee Jae-myung government's firm support for the "One-China Principle," this clearly wasn't a spontaneous act, but a clear signal of goodwill toward China.

At that time, the Taiwan authorities became very upset, making "strong concerns" and even negotiating with the "Taiwan Representative Office in South Korea," causing a lot of commotion for half a year. However, the South Koreans gave no response, continuing to do as they pleased. On March 1, the Taiwan authorities finally could not bear it anymore, "unleashed a major move," changing the name of "South Korea" to "South Korea" in the "Foreigner's Residence Permit."

Lee Jae-myung

However, more than half a month has passed, and the Lee Jae-myung government still has no reaction. In this situation, the Taiwan authorities issued an "ultimatum," which was mentioned at the beginning of this article, that if South Korea does not change by March 31, the Taiwan authorities will also change the name of South Korea on the electronic entry registration form to "South Korea."

It is worth mentioning that the Taiwan authorities thought this was "returning the same method to the same person," directly hitting South Korea with the pain of division, but this move has little effect on South Korea. On one hand, "South Korea" does not carry any political meaning, because South Korea's official name is "South Korea."

South Korean electronic entry card

Moreover, how does South Korea refer to North Korea? The official name is "North Korea." This is not an insult, but a long-standing practice. Moreover, South Korea has always regarded the inter-Korean relationship as a "special relationship aimed at unification," rather than a relationship between countries. Therefore, calling South Korea "South Korea" probably doesn't bother South Koreans much.

More importantly, South Korea has never been ambiguous about the One-China principle. Especially after Lee Jae-myung took office, there is no doubt about this. In January this year, President Lee Jae-myung of South Korea embarked on his first state visit to China since taking office, accompanied by a business delegation of over 200 people. This display is rare in recent years, clearly indicating a correction of the previous South Korean government's "pro-American and pro-US economic" policy.

Lai Ching-te

In this overall situation, the "countermeasures" of the Taiwan authorities hardly make a ripple. Moreover, South Korea has already stated that when establishing diplomatic relations with China, it recognized the "One-China Principle," so the labeling of "China Taiwan" on the electronic entry card is not "targeting Taiwan," but just following the rules.

The most ironic part is that even the people of Taiwan can't stand this farce, openly stating that the Taiwan authorities are too childish and that they should use this energy to focus on cross-strait unification. The Taiwan authorities treat "countermeasures" as achievements and "changing names" as diplomacy, but the problem is that South Koreans don't care, the international community doesn't care, and no matter whether the name is changed or not, it cannot change the fact that Taiwan belongs to China.

Original: toutiao.com/article/7619220493018645028/

Statement: This article represents the views of the author alone.