China’s invasion of Taiwan was probably always going to look a lot like China takeover of Hong Kong. If you recall, Hong Kong was also relatively free and independent until China pushed through new laws which made it a crime to say anything bad about the mainland. That of course also meant that you couldn’t hold big protests in the streets complaining about the mainland. From there it was a relatively simple matter to arrest and threaten all the protest leaders with long prison sentences and to shut down media voices that sided with the protesters. Over the span of about a year, Hong Kong’s freedoms evaporated.
Over the last few days Taiwan has seen the start of what may be the same process. A week ago, Lai Ching-te, also known as William Lai, was inaugurated as Taiwan’s new president. As the leader of the DPP, he gave a speech focused on maintaining the status quo, one in which…
