Lai caught in snares of his own making

It should be no surprise that Taiwan compatriots have given the cold shoulder to Lai Ching-te's so-called series of "unite the country" speeches. Not only because the island's secessionist-minded leader is trying to peddle his "pro-independence" pipe dream, but also their awareness of the dire consequences that will result if he continues his sleepwalk to conflict.

The latest survey by the island's TVBS News Network shows that the dissatisfaction rate with Lai stands at 55 percent, a record high since he took office in May last year. The four speeches Lai has given in his planned 10-installment series have directly led to the drop in his approval rating.

That might be the reason why Lai canceled his fifth speech, which was reportedly about "diplomacy" and originally planned for Saturday, even though his office cited "weather conditions" as the cause.

After the poor reception his four speeches received over the past weeks, Lai must have realized the oratory he has carefully prepared has had the opposite effect to the one he intended.

In the four speeches he delivered, he respectively focused on what he purported to be the island's "history", the "threat" it faces, its "democracy" and "defense". In them, he tried to sever the island's historical connections with the Chinese mainland, portray the latter as a "threat", take "people's will" as a guise to muffle the voices of those critical of his agenda, and used "security" as an excuse to attack the "opposition parties".

In his desperation to get his figment-of-the-imagination message across, his speeches were nothing but long tirades. The yarns he spun were devoid of a factual base and do not withstand scrutiny. As a consequence, Lai has had to resort to telling one lie after another to cover up the previous lie he told.

By staging his oratorical circus, Lai and the Democratic Progressive Party authorities he leads have been caught in the snares of nihilistic history, distorted academic theory, usurped legal principles, and deviation from common sense. Instead of advancing their "separatist" cause, Lai's speeches have only served to reinforce why that cause is doomed to failure — it goes against the tide of history, the will of the people, and is on the wrong side of history.

The so-called four elements of a country he tried to hype up expose his ignorance of international legal principles. In peddling the false theory that the island is a so-called "country" in its own right, Lai challenged the status of the island in international law as well as the Anti-Secession Law of China. Lai has put himself in a dangerous position in trying to split the country and undermine national unity.

The ongoing military exercises of the island's "defense forces", which started on Wednesday, only served to expose the DPP authorities' desperation to eliminate any possibility of a peaceful reunification of the island with the motherland.

But as Jiang Bin, spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense, said, whatever maneuvers they drill and whatever weapons they use, they will not deter the People's Liberation Army from acting to forestall any bid for "Taiwan independence" should it prove necessary. Nor will such drills resist the trend toward China's national reunification.

The PLA has the confidence and the capability to shatter all "Taiwan independence" separatist illusions, Jiang said in news conference on Tuesday in response to the recent remarks made by Lai about the island's so-called increased "defense budget" and "people's resolve" to fight for Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen and Matsu.

Lai's call for people to "fight for Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu" is in fact a call for them to fight for the interests of the DPP and for his own political ambition.

The two sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to one China, and Taiwan, Penghu, Kinmen, and Matsu are all territories of China. Lai has hyped up "security concerns" in a bid to hijack public opinion in Taiwan. By attempting to militarize the local society he is dragging the future of the island into the schemes of external forces.