China responds to Taiwan鈥檚 election results with hostile messages
As of Thursday morning, thousands had flooded President-elect Tsai鈥檚 Facebook page with pro-China comments.
Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party, DPP, presidential candidate, Tsai Ing-wen, raises her fist as she declares victory in the presidential election in Taipei, Taiwan
Wally Santana/AP/File
China is not happy with Tsai Ing-wen,聽the president-elect of Taiwan.
Almost a week after the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) leader was elected, netizens of mainland China launched a Facebook campaign to counter the pro-Taiwan independence sentiments shared on social media.
As of Thursday morning, Facebook users had flooded Ms. Tsai鈥檚 Facebook page with more than 40,000 comments. Foreign sites including Facebook, Twitter, Google, and others are blocked in mainland China. But users found ways to surpass the Great Firewall,聽the country鈥檚 vast network of censors and spying technology used to control Internet traffic,聽through VPN software.
"Taiwan is such a poor and backward place, do you still have any face to talk?鈥� a user commented, according to the Washington Post. 鈥淲hat is the use of talking about this without any power? Do you have a say in the international community? If you have guts, declare independence."
The campaign was organized by Liyi Ba, an online community with more than 20 million members, and targeted pages of more than 10 organizations including Taiwan and Hong Kong media outlets, as well as the BBC, according to The Wall Street Journal.
鈥淭his is a self-organized cultural communication from members of Liyi Ba,鈥� the organizers of the campaign wrote in a statement on their official Weibo microblog, 聽鈥淲e aimed to close the cognitive gap between netizens from both sides.鈥�
Since the election on Saturday, Beijing has been concerned that Tsai and her independence-leaning DPP may push for independence from China. Xinhua, China's official news agency, wrote an editorial that described Taiwan鈥檚 independence aspirations as 鈥減oison,鈥� while a Global Times editorial described them as being 鈥渉allucinations,鈥� the Monitor reported.
Taiwan has been self-governing since 1949, but the Communist Party of China regards it as a territory that belongs to the mainland, and Beijing鈥檚 strict 鈥淥ne China鈥� policy would not allow Taiwan to seek independence.
Tsai, in her victory speech, said that she wants good relations with China and is willing to meet Beijing halfway. But the Chinese government and many citizens remain wary of Taiwan.
鈥淲hat they are saying is that something close to 鈥極ne China鈥� has to come out of Tsai Ing-wen鈥檚 mouth eventually,鈥� Shelley Rigger, a professor at Davidson College in North Carolina who studies Taiwanese politics,聽told the Monitor.
Ruan Chao-hsiung, a聽spokesman for the DPP, said that the users were exercising their freedom of speech, while Tsai wrote that "The greatness of this country lies in how every single person can exercise their own rights."
Taiwanese reacted to the Facebook comments with sarcastic messages congratulating the Chinese Netizens for being able to get past government censorship.
"We have freedom of speech, freedom of assembly, and personal freedom," a user commented, according to Reuters. 鈥淵ou people have none of that."