Got up at 6:30 AM and the final result of Taiwan President Election 2024 almost settled down.
iI've been out of Taiwan since May 24, 2021. In other words, I've been moving out from household registration after being absent from Taiwan for 2 years. When I watched the news regarding the election results, I felt a little eccentric.
Being away from Taiwan also changed my channels regarding Taiwan news. For example, VOA has become one of the regular platforms for understanding how the US interprets the Taiwan-China relationship. In the meantime, I also read the threads on X (Twitter) from many independent self-media people and NGO thinking tanks. All of these new experiences also reshaped my understanding of Taiwan. Is it possible to have war across the Taiwan Strait? Is Taiwan having a dangerous war risk? I believe the answer is "absolutely YES".
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| VOA broadcasting the Lai's victory speech, using the simplified Chinese |
In the meantime, I am also very proud of the peaceful democracy in Taiwan, especially representing the first, only democratic entity in Chinese-speaking society. When I learned Lai and Hsiao won the next Taiwan President election, I believed that the independence of Taiwan would be able to persist. Do you know which media I was watching? It was VOA on YouTube.
It is paradoxical to talk about all of these issues with the old friends staying in Taiwan. For the past 41 years, I have built my career and lived on this island, Taiwan. Therefore, I really can understand how you felt the "war risk" in daily life, meaning it would be like an invisible threat. You will almost not feel or talk about this invisible but imminent threat.
To pursue whole new possibilities, we decided to come to the US. Of course, we will get the best interests to refrain from the threat since we've not been in Taiwan since 2021. But it doesn't mean that I do not care about the future of Taiwan. In the case of Robert Tsao, who returned to Taiwan in his 70s, he showed his diligence in the recognition and independence of Taiwan. Who knows if I will become another case in the future?
