In the name of improving Hong Kong’s electoral system, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has completely stifled the last chance of Hong Kong’s democracy. Ma Ying-jeou finally couldn’t help saying that the “One Country, Two Systems was pronounced dead!” Don’t underestimate this “deep sigh” by Ma, who was born in Hong Kong and also one of few Taiwanese who were still hopeful about Beijing. It marked the end of a generation of one political ideology. Beijing will be facing a Taiwan with little nationalistic sentiment, and the cross-Strait relation has been pushed by Beijing into an “international” one that it wants to see the least.

One Country, Two Systems being “pronounced dead” has not only cost Hong Kong its space for democracy but killed the “1992 Consensus” that was already dying. Ma Ying-jeou, who has been escorting the “1992 Consensus” with the infamy of “selling out Taiwan” and kissing the bottom of the CCP in recent years, was clearly aware that when he pronounced the death of the One Country, Two Systems, he also certified “1992 Consensus” in Taiwan. Later he quickly declared that the “1992 Consensus” is different from the “One Country, Two Systems” in Hong Kong, and that the “1992 Consensus” still lives.

Although Ma Ying-jeou continues to play his role as a preacher of the “1992 Consensus,” he looks pale and feeble. He couldn’t do anything to revive this consensus that once carried out a function for a particular period in Cross-Strait relations, which has now been burned down to ashes in a fire set up by CCP in Hong Kong.

The people of Taiwan have witnessed how the CCP brutally trampled on the core value of One Country, Two Systems with a high degree of autonomy promised in the theoretically lofty “Basic Law of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China,” so now they also have an answer to the question of how Beijing would treat the “1992 Consensus,” which is vague and dependent on tacit understanding and goodwill. The people of Taiwan have to redefine the Cross-Strait relations and find a way of survival for Taiwan.

With its arrogance today, perhaps Beijing doesn’t care whether the people of Taiwan trust China or whether they have a good impression of China, thinking that they could force Taiwan into unification with warships, bombs, and missiles. However, if Taiwan were really a house of cards, the communist army would have already trespassed the Taiwan Strait. In Taiwan, even the generation of Ma, which still has hopes for Beijing with the political ideology to think that a peaceful unification could be the future for China and Taiwan, could already see the crisis of Taiwan with the example of Hong Kong. With this development, the Taiwan that used to be divided by cross-strait policies would be unified. This instinct for basic survival and dignity has formed a powerful force with the determination to “fight you to the end”, which will make Taiwan the toughest challenge for Beijing.

Moreover, the scope of this conflict will not be limited to a military one and the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, and it will not be short-term. The overall subsequent impact will affect China’s long-term destiny, and the final winner will never be China.

It is not that the CCP has no chance at all to fulfill its dream of a national renaissance. However, the leaders in Beijing are too arrogant. They choose to turn their backs on the norms of civilization and opt for a path of expansion that makes enemies out of the main countries around the world. Many countries that used to be friendly with China or could at least coexist with China in peace are now in contradiction with China in different degrees, including the U.S., Japan, Europe, Australia, India, and South-Eastern Asia. An alliance against China is taking shape. On the other hand, the CCP has low self-esteem, so it goes against the tide and its people and Hong Kong to carry out digital surveillance, to suppress the freedom of speech, and to crash democracy and human rights in a manner harsher than ever.

Beijing is pushing itself into a dark corner of the world, with fewer and fewer friends and more and more enemies. It keeps clamoring about a fight against international anti-China forces, but it does not face the reasons why the so-called anti-China forces are growing.

Many people criticized that Ma Ying-jeou’s death pronunciation of “One Country, Two Systems” came too late. When even those who are slow on the uptake could already see through some things, how many people are left in the world to believe in China? Who else in Taiwan would believe in Beijing? How can Taiwan choose? Can’t Beijing see how big a crisis this is? It’s incomprehensible.

Click here for Chinese version

We invite you to join the conversation by submitting columns to our opinion section: [email protected]

Apple Daily reserves the right to refuse, abridge, alter or edit guest opinion columns for accuracy, length, clarity, and style, and the right to withdraw and withhold columns based on the discretion of our editorial page editors.

The opinions of the writers do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the editorial board.

---------------------------------

Apple Daily’s all-new English Edition is now available on the mobile app: bit.ly/2yMMfQE

To download the latest version,

iOS: bit.ly/AD_iOS

Android: bit.ly/AD_android

Or search Appledaily in App Store or Google Play