“Shortly after Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) suffered the worst loss in its 37-year history, Nikkei Asia Review published an article entitled “Taiwan’s KMT has a mountain to climb for 2024 presidential race” that cautioned not to read too much into the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party’s (KMT) success in the local elections last November (Nikkei Asia, November 29, 2022).”
“Much like its handling of the pandemic, the Tsai administration’s cross-Strait policy was popular early in her second term, but is showing signs of strain given its inflexible nature. To be sure, Taiwanese elected Tsai in part because they trusted her more than the KMT’s 2020 presidential nominee Han Kuo-yu to safeguard Taiwan’s sovereignty and way of life. As Tsai defeated Han in a landslide in which she received 57.1 percent of the vote, she entered her second term with a strong mandate to stand firm against Chinese aggression (Taipei Times, January 12, 2020). However, the ripple effect from U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan last August has complicated what had been a straightforward task for the DPP. As long as China’s coercion of Taiwan was confined to sanctions, poaching of diplomatic allies and small-scale gray-zone activity, the Tsai administration could focus on strengthening ties with the U.S., Japan and other democracies, while taking care not to escalate tensions with Beijing. The DPP faced little public pressure to re-establish dialogue with China given it’s hostility toward Taiwan, especially when the pandemic occupied the attention of Taiwanese society. Pelosi’s visit was a game changer, though. Even if many Taiwanese welcomed the diplomatic recognition the visit conferred on their country, after observing China’s unprecedented martial muscle flexing, they realized that the stakes of this game had risen sharply”
As with most countries the prospect of a war that could destroy economy, kill citizens, and prevent any peaceful discussions is one not favored by most.