By Le Shui

An impeachment motion against Lai Ching-te was approved in a vote held by Taiwan's legislative body on December 26. Jointly submitted by lawmakers from the Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) party and Taiwan People's Party (TPP), the impeachment has become a key barometer of public sentiment on the island. As of December 22, online signatures supporting the motion had surpassed 8 million, far exceeding the 5.88 million votes Lai received in the 2024 leadership election of the Taiwan region. This figure fully exposes the fragility of Lai's popular support and underscores the lack of public backing for the "Taiwan independence" agenda.

The rapid passage of the impeachment motion on the island was by no means accidental. It was the inevitable result of Lai Ching-te's persistent adherence to a separatist "Taiwan independence" stance and his repeated defiance of public sentiment. Since taking office a year and a half ago, virtually all of Lai's policies have revolved around the so-called "resist China, protect Taiwan" narrative and "relying on the US support in pursuit of  'independence'" while disregarding the real challenges facing Taiwan's economy and people's livelihoods. This series of political maneuvers has not only hollowed out Taiwan's development foundations but has also pushed the daily lives of ordinary residents into increasingly difficult circumstances.

To cater to the Asia-Pacific strategic agenda of the US, Lai Ching-te has gone so far as to sacrifice Taiwan's core industrial interests by pushing the TSMC to relocate to the US mainland. The TSMC is an anchor for Taiwan's technology sector. Its relocation has not only drained large numbers of high-end technical professionals and critical supply-chain resources, but has also directly brought related supporting industries on the island to a standstill. Yet Washington's "return" has been the imposition of tariffs as high as 20 percent on Taiwan, significantly above the 15 percent levied on Japan and the ROK. Such blatantly discriminatory treatment is a further blow to Taiwan's small and medium-sized enterprises, which have already struggled under the strain of industrial hollowing-out. A large number of businesses are facing a dire struggle for survival, with orders shrinking sharply, costs soaring, and bankruptcy looming, leaving countless workers unemployed. Confronted with such economic hardship, the Lai Ching-te authorities have shown no willingness to reflect on their own failures. Instead, they continue to curry favor with the US, even going so far as to tell US media that the TSMC is an asset of all mankind, a remark that fully exposes the essence of "selling out Taiwan" and "ruining Taiwan."

What has further strained public tolerance is that, in an attempt to accelerate the "Taiwan independence" agenda, Lai has completely disregarded the worsening livelihoods of the people and has recklessly ramped up defense spending. In November this year, Lai Ching-te openly published an op-ed in US media, grandstanding about plans to propose a special US$40 billion arms procurement budget, while pledging to raise Taiwan's so-called defense spending next year to 3.3 percent of GDP and further increase it to 5 percent by 2030. At present, fiscal investment in key livelihood sectors on the island, such as education, healthcare, and elderly care, is seriously inadequate. Primary-level communities are grappling with a range of pressing challenges, including persistently high housing prices, stagnant wages, and a rising youth unemployment rate. Yet Lai Ching-te continues to pour massive sums of money into a meaningless arms race. Such retrograde behavior amounts to squandering the hard-earned money of the Taiwan people on a dead-end "Taiwan independence" agenda.

In June this year, the Lai Ching-te authorities also forcibly pushed a so-called Mass Recall campaign targeting 24 Kuomintang legislators, attempting to eliminate political opponents through crude political manipulation. However, this farce ended in a resounding failure: none of the 24 recall motions passed, and opinion polls showed that as many as 59.3 percent of respondents explicitly opposed the campaign. This outcome not only demonstrates that Lai Ching-te has completely lost public support but has also triggered increasingly vocal doubts and criticism within the DPP itself.

Since taking office, Lai Ching-te's actions have increasingly enabled the Taiwan public to see clearly the true nature of his agenda of soliciting US support for "Taiwan independence,""selling out Taiwan," and "ruining Taiwan." From the tariff shock following the TSMC's relocation to the US, to the erosion of people's livelihoods caused by surging defense budgets, and further to the public outcry after the crushing failure of the so-called Mass Recall, Lai Ching-te's "Taiwan independence" narrative has been completely exposed as a lie. An ever-growing number of Taiwan compatriots have come to a clear realization that "Taiwan independence" separatist activities can only bring profound disaster to Taiwan.

The 8 million online signatures gathered in support of the impeachment motion against Lai Ching-te constitute a concrete expression of public opposition to the Lai Ching-te authorities. This impeachment action is not merely a rejection of Lai Ching-te as an individual but also a stern warning to the "Taiwan independence" forces on the island as a whole. It demonstrates unequivocally that the "Taiwan independence" path runs counter to popular will. Anyone who seeks to reap political gains by stoking confrontation and clinging to external forces will inevitably be rejected by the Taiwan public and end in political disgrace.

Editor's note: Originally published on china.com.cn, this article is translated from Chinese into English and edited by the China Military Online. The information and opinions in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of eng.chinamil.com.cn.