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Premier William Lai's decision to comment favorably on a pro-Taiwan video by a Polish fringe far-right group might not have been the best idea.
By Brian Hioe
Polish far-right wing media organization Idź Pod Prąd recently released a video declaring support of Taiwan and opposition to China. In the video, a woman speaking in Mandarin and man speaking in English state opposition to China and support for Taiwan, citing Poland’s one hundred years of independence, stating that Poland historically has fought for the independence of other countries, and encouraging Taiwanese to vote for independence. The man also puts on a red hat saying “Make China Lose Again,” resembling the 2016 Donald Trump campaign’s iconic “Make America Great Again” hat and originating from the Taiwanese activist clothing brand Radicalization. Several clips are also shown of Polish locals vowing support for Taiwan.
Idź Pod Prąd has kept up its social media campaign expressing support of Taiwan and opposition to China, as observed in numerous pictures posted on social media accounts of individuals holding up signs saying “Say Yes to Taiwan, Say No to China”. Idź Pod Prąd also displays an awareness of that its video caught on popularly in Taiwan, as evidenced in reposting Liberty Times articles on their video,or a picture of Taiwanese leftist independence activist Su Beng (史明) holding up a similar sign. Premier William Lai (賴清德) would even comment on the video, stating that the video is a sign that there are like-minded countries who support Taiwan.
Unfortunately, it is generally the case that Taiwan rarely examines expressions of support for its status more closely. As a small far-right wing media organization, which probably does not have more than one thousand members, Idź Pod Prąd espouses traditional Christian values, which for them includes discrimination against members of the LGBTQ community and ethnic minorities. Idź Pod Prąd has been documented to have connections to white supremacist groups.
In general, Idź Pod Prąd expresses support for groups internationally which it sees as sharing common values, such as anti-Communism. But Idź Pod Prąd’s far-right-wing sympathies are evident in praises for dictators regimes such as Spain under Franco, Chile under Pinochet, and more recently, Brazil’s Jair Bolsonaro, and Donald Trump in America.
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One generally suspects that if Chiang Kai-shek (蔣介石) were still alive, he, too, would be praised in the highest of terms by Idź Pod Prąd, and that it is only because Idź Pod Prąd does not realize that Taiwan has moved beyond the dictatorial era of the Chiangs that it expresses support for Taiwan. (Update: In an email to The News Lens, a contributing journalist to Idź Pod Prąd disputed this claim, saying her family was among the victims of the 228 Massacre and she believes Idź Pod Prąd would not praise Chiang Kai-shek were he alive.)
Nevertheless, Taiwan has a decided tendency not to examine the motivations behind those who support it. Given Taiwan’s international obscurity, Taiwan is generally happy with any form of support. As such, the Taiwanese government has a tendency of throwing its support behind far-right wing authoritarians that support Taiwan, including Bolsonaro and Trump, as well as Juan Orlando Hernández of Honduras or King Mswati of eSwatini.
In such cases, it seemingly does not matter that individuals such as Bolsonaro have threatened violence against members of the LGBTQ community or other minorities when Taiwan otherwise claims to be a progressive country on the verge of legalizing marriage equality, or that Juan Orlando Hernández of Honduras is accused of presiding over a rigged election that won him the presidency, much as how the Kuomintang (KMT) rigged Taiwanese elections for decades.
Credit: Reuters / TPG
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Taiwan’s marginalization from the international world has not helped this. For example, as one observes in Lai’s comments, it was not noted that Idź Pod Prąd is a tiny right-wing media outlet. Instead, the claim was made that Idź Pod Prąd represented international trends of rising anti-China sentiment globally – and that Taiwan lagged behind such international trends in line with how Taiwan’s broader marginalization from the international community has led to the mentality that Taiwan is behind any and all international trends, which it must play catch-up with as soon as possible.
As one observes in Lai’s comments, it was not noted that Idź Pod Prąd is a tiny right-wing media outlet. Instead, the claim was made that Idź Pod Prąd represented international trends of rising anti-China sentiment globally.
Perhaps Taiwan, in such cases, only sees what is convenient for itself. Many in Taiwan thus idealize Donald Trump’s presidential administration, failing to note its instability and instead seeing Trump as leading the international trend of global opposition to China, seeing America only as at the cutting edge of international trends.
In general, what is shared between seeing Idź Pod Prąd’s video in a positive light, as well as seeing support for individuals such as Trump, Bolsonaro, and others, is that such individuals or groups have become supportive of Taiwan out of anxiety regarding China. This has led to a failure to recognize that such support of Taiwan is generally only being used as a way to antagonize China.
Unfortunately, such naivete, not to mention hypocrisy, is par for the course for Taiwan. One does not expect this to change anytime soon.
This article originally contained a photo from the Instagram of an Idź Pod Prąd member which has been removed per the request of that individual. The News Lens regrets the error. The article has also been amended to reflect that the group has not been shown to discriminate against Catholics, which originally appeared alongside its documented discrimination against the LGBTQ community and ethnic minorities, as well as its documented connections to white supremacists.
Read Next: OPINION: Taiwan's Embrace of Brazil's Far-Right Jair Bolsonaro Is Shameful
The News Lens has been authorized to repost this article. The original post was published on New Bloom here.
Editor: Nick Aspinwall (@Nick1Aspinwall)
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