By Li Ping

As the U.S. C-17 Globemaster III, a military cargo jet, landed in Songshan Airport in Taiwan on Sunday, the CCP’s hawkish mouthpiece Global Times had its foot in the mouth. From vowing that a war would start immediately between the two Strait, it is now conceding that China has a firm grip on the initiative on the Taiwan issue, and will not take it personally with the DPP. At the same time, continuing its usual wolf-warrior frenzy, it accuses the DDP of offering proof of allegiance to the U.S. as a lifesaver. For a state media who has a lot of influence on the direction of propaganda both internally and externally, how is making such ostentatious claims different from a direct slap in the face of Xi Jinping, who has just recently ordered to create a “reliable, admirable, and respectable” image of China?

Taiwan’s epidemic situation has worsened, to which Japan and the U.S. have subsequently extended a helping hand. On June 4, Japan sent 1.24 million doses of vaccine to Taipei via only civilian flight. On June 6, the U.S. deployed a C-17 military plane and sent three bi-partisan Senators to Taipei to announce the donation of 750,000 doses of vaccine. This was the “first landing” of a U.S. military cargo jet in Taiwan, and its implications are far more significant than the scope of epidemic prevention. Netizens on both sides of the Strait are focused on whether the Global Times’ warning bell of war would in fact go off.

On August 31 of last year, the Global Times published an editorial titled “Tsai authorities deserve a stern warning from Beijing”, claiming that the moment U.S. military jets land on the island, “it is crossing the Chinese mainland’s redline to safeguard national unity”, and that the mainland “can destroy the relevant airport in the island and the US military aircraft that land there - a war in the Taiwan Straits will thus begin.”

Now, the U.S. strategic lift aircraft had parked and departed on the runway in Taiwan without the slightest obstruction. U.S. Air Force was on full display in Taipei, what a stark contrast to the recent, frequent harassment of PLA military aircraft in the air encircling Taiwan. Has this not crossed the Chinese mainland’s redline to safeguard national unity? What followed was nothing more than verbal bickering between the two Straits. The “little pinks” of China clamored to shoot the plane down, and Taiwanese netizens ridiculed the Global Times and the left side of the Strait for only engaging in verbal swordplay. China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, to no one’s surprise, stated that it has already lodged a “stern representation” to the U.S. Is this to demonstrate to the world that China is no longer a wolf warrior, but a lovable “paper dragon”?

Clearly, the direct landing of U.S. Senators on a military cargo jet in Taipei Songshan Airport was not only a show of support toward Tsai Ing-wen’s administration that is currently facing the difficulty of the epidemic, but also a test of the bottom line of the CCP’s Taiwan policy and U.S.-Taiwan military cooperation. Turned out that the “redline” as drawn by the Global Times over safeguarding national unity could be redrawn over and over again just like the goalpost of “national security” that has been arbitrarily moved around in Hong Kong. However, to pacify the “little pinks”, Global Times must refrain from dunking them and their patriotism toward the country and the party in cold water, and therefore has published a series of editorials such as “Taiwan authorities treat US senators’ visit as a lifesaver” and “Taiwan’s DPP becomes ‘chess piece’ in tussle between Beijing and Washington”. It has also put forth the attitude that the mainland disdains a war against Taiwan and the U.S., accused the U.S. and Taiwan of playing an “insidious game” with human lives, claimed that the mainland has a “firm grasp on the initiative” on the issue of Taiwan, and would not engage in a conflict of personal feelings with the DPP.

Still, for a so-called CCP mouthpiece to be so wishy-washy on the issue of war, this really makes people question whether the CCP does, in fact, have a complete set of strategies and tactics against Taiwan. It makes people question whether the CCP’s media has deliberately or unintentionally departed from the designated pathway of domestic brainwashing and diplomatic insolence, so much so that Xi Jinping now has to demand to advertise the “reliable, admirable, and respectable” image of China. It also makes people question whether such blatant slap on the face of Xi Jinping is “low-level red” (vulgar compliment) or “high-level black” (damning praise), or simply the Beijing version of “loyal garbage”?

As early as February 2019, the Central Committee of the CCP had issued the “Opinions on Strengthening the Political Construction of the Party”, requiring party members not to engage in “low-level red” or “high-level black”, permitting no form of “two-faced outer devotion and internal opposition, any double-dealing or ‘false reverence’.”

Xi Jinping has just ordered a new tactic for external propaganda at the end of last month in a seeming attempt to turn around the detrimental image resulted from wolf warrior diplomacy. However, with the Global Times and other diplomats putting their feet in their mouths, it clearly does not communicate “reliable, admirable, and respectable.” On the contrary, one could see that in order to grab onto its voice on the international stage and fool its citizens, the CCP media could turn against the country suddenly and be totally shameless. As for whether China’s political, economic, and military strengths are enough to start a war right at this very moment? Although it cannot bear the consequences of destroying Taiwan’s airport the U.S. military jets, as long as the redline remains mobile, China is invincible.

This article is translated from Chinese by Apple Daily.

Click here for Chinese version

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