China suffered two blows from Taiwan on Friday, as the upcoming presidential election on the democratic island shifted sharply in favor of the anti-Beijing ruling party and an Australian warship transited the Taiwan Strait in defiance of Beijing.
Taiwan’s pro-China opposition parties failed to unite before Friday’s candidate registration deadline for January’s presidential election. That clears the way to the presidency for ruling Democratic Progressive Party candidate Lai Ching-te, a pro-U.S. figure with a far firmer anti-Beijing posture than his opposition rivals.
Meanwhile, an Australian warship that two weeks ago had suffered minor casualties caused by a Chinese warship defied Beijing and sailed through the strait separating China and Taiwan.
While Beijing does not condemn civilian vessels transiting the international waters of the Taiwan Strait, it is strongly opposed to foreign warships making the passage. China called Thursday’s transit “provocative.”
The political drama was high in Taipei late Thursday when an assembly of leading opposition politicians, meeting in one of the city’s top hotels in an attempt to find common ground ahead of Friday’s deadline, imploded in acrimony.
The brouhaha was so big that members of the main opposition Kuomintang party, or KMT, walked out of the venue, per reports from Taiwan.
The fallout became clear on Friday, when main opposition leader Hou You-ih of the KMT and dark horse Ko Wen-je of the Taiwan People’s Party filed separate registration documents for the Jan. 13 election.
That is excellent news for the DPP’s Lai Ching-te, also known as William Lai. According to poll numbers, a combined opposition would have defeated Mr. Lai, but a divided camp leaves him comfortably ahead of both Mr. Hou and Mr. Ko.
Mr. Lai is vice president under President Tsai In-weng. Ms. Tsai is constitutionally unable to serve a third term. Their party, the DPP, is widely considered the most anti-Beijing of Taiwan’s political machines.
The possibility of a DPP electoral defeat was briefly raised last week, when the KMT and TPP candidates announced plans to join hands. However, they failed to find common ground last weekend, and Thursday’s implosion doomed their plans.
Separately, Taipei announced Friday that an Australian warship had transited the Taiwan Strait.
Reuters News Agency reported that the vessel was the frigate HMAS Toowoomba. Toowoomba was embroiled in a high-profile incident on Nov. 14, though details were released only last week.
According to Canberra, the ship was in international waters off Japan with divers clearing fishing gear that had entangled its propellers when a Chinese destroyer approached and switched on its deck-mounted sonar.
Sonar pulses, usually used to locate submarines, can injure divers. The Toowoomba’s divers surfaced with “minor injuries,” apparently to their ears.
A source familiar with anti-submarine operations told The Washington Times that Chinese bridge officers may have overlooked radio communications and been unfamiliar with the signal for “divers down” – a flag flown from the mast.
Others, however, believe that the Chinese sailors acted deliberately. Beijing’s ships have deployed a range of non-lethal gear – water cannon, lasers and reinforced ramming bows – in maritime disputes in the South and East China seas.
A commentary from a Chinese academic in party-run media Global Times stated that the incident took place close to Chinese waters and alleged the Australian naval ship refused to communicate with the Chinese naval ship.
• Andrew Salmon can be reached at asalmon@washingtontimes.com.
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