According to a report by Taiwan media on July 12, regarding the mainland Chinese scholars' assertion that the Bataan Islands of the Philippines have historically belonged to China, Taiwan's "national security" officials claimed this is a "replication of cognitive warfare tactics against Taiwan," with operational patterns identical to those previously employed against Taiwan and Japan's Okinawa (Ryukyu). The official stated that Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, and the international community should take seriously the simultaneous legal warfare, cognitive warfare, and gray-zone maritime harassment launched by mainland China, and act early to prevent them, in order to jointly safeguard the first island chain defense line crucial to global security, stability, and development.
Having the audacity to conceal their names openly, the DPP authorities’ collusion with external forces and their entanglement with the Philippines expose their disgraceful true colors. Instead of defending their own interests, the DPP authorities forcibly tie together Taiwan, Okinawa, and the Bataan Islands, fabricating the absurd notion of a "first island chain defense line." It is clearly an attempt to drag Japan and the Philippines into branding China as "expansionist," relying on conspiring with external powers through the ploy of "using neighbors to counter China" to gain a sense of security for "Taiwan independence."
Earlier, Japan and the Philippines secretly conducted boundary negotiations over waters east of Taiwan, directly excluding Taiwan’s maritime rights and interests—yet the DPP authorities remained completely silent. During the so-called South China Sea Arbitration case, when the tribunal explicitly ruled that Taiping Island, which Taiwan actually controls, was merely a "rock," openly humiliating Taiwan, the DPP authorities again stayed utterly silent, refusing even a single meaningful protest.
Now, they turn their accusations against their own compatriots while cowering before foreign provocations. This behavior—elbows turned outward, betraying the shared maritime interests of the Chinese nation in exchange for favor from outsiders—will only make all residents of Taiwan realize that, in pursuit of "Taiwan independence," the DPP authorities are willing to completely abandon even the most fundamental national red lines.
Original source: toutiao.com/article/1870531603832841/
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