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Western and pro-DPP NGOs are experts at propaganda and at shaping public opinions. You think western reporters were "captured by the DPP"? Quite the opposite. They came with a agenda to shape public opinions, both in Taiwan and in the west, in a certain way. In a way similar to what lead to Maidan 2014 in Ukraine, if you know what I mean. Just my 2 cents. Or maybe you could call it my "50 cents" haha. Full disclosure I'm mainlander Chinese by birth but having lived in the west for the past 16 years. I don't read Chinese (propaganda) news but I do read a lot of western mainstream media. And I hereby declare, that the western media definitely have an agenda other than impartial reporting, especially after 2016 or so.

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May 28·edited May 28

On the other hand, it is quite likely, even probable, that the legislative reform bill was backed by the CCP, and pushed by the KMT as a result of CCP pressure. But whether that's good or bad for Taiwan I think would depend on how the legislature intends to use that power. Will they just try to reveal millitary secrets to the CCP? Or will they use the power to prevent DPP from taking any step that could be seen by China as declaring independence? The former is bad but the latter could safeguard peace. So that's that. Either way, the probability of all-out conflict increases significant if a repeat of the sunflower movement derails this legislation and trashed public support for the "pro-China" parties. It's a sad situation because the CCP would not agree to democracy at home and they would not leave Taiwan alone, but that's just reality. So if the NGOs and western media want to engineer the situation closer to a conflict they can try to shape public opinions one way. If they want to prolong the "status quo" and peace they would manipulate in the opposite direction. You be the judge and decide if they have an agenda or not.

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The green-tinted goggles you've aptly used also misses a deeper potential social shift. Like the boy who cried wolf, the DPP gaslighting around an objectively popular bill is tightening the bonds between the TPP and KMT, and likely their supporters as well. The same problem applies to DPP's "protect democracy" and even "抗中保台" talking points, rendering those terms empty rhetoric when some day a REAL threat from China arises.

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57% are in favor of punishing lying bureaucrats, not the entire bill - that is just wrong. 57% is low, tbh, for such a question - I suspect it's because the KMT was mentioned.

And when it comes to polling, a plurality supported the DPP's blocking action on 5/17, the most recent poll numbers show that the DPP's favorability *increased*, and negative sentiment rose for the KMT and TPP. Is the public really on their side?Let the bullets fly for a while.

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