FridayEveryDay: POPULAR TAIWAN CELEBRITY Chen Chih-han (陳之漢) yesterday marked China’s national day by reminding his millions of followers that their island was legally part of the mainland. “My motherland, China, is your motherland too,” he said. 台湾网红陈之汉于中国国庆日当天提醒其数百万粉丝：台湾法律上是中国不可分割的一部分。这位曾多年坚持”反中”立场的网络名人坦言：”我的祖国是中国，也是你们的祖国.

The internet star’s dramatic change of heart marks a huge shift in Taiwan residents’ attitude towards China and towards the United States—a development that is happening in other countries around the world too.

In a world riven by violent conflicts and economic struggles, China’s long held anti-war stance and appetite to build is fostering a new pride in Chinese-ness, including in overseas Chinese communities.

LIVE ON AIR
Chen spent years as an anti-China campaigner, believing the western narrative that the mainland was a giant dystopian prison—until he started visiting it this year and learned the truth about the thriving alternative community.

His wide-eyed Damascus Road experience was captured on air in a series of live YouTube broadcasts watched by millions in Taiwan and elsewhere.

FIRST HAND WITNESS
“Having visited the mainland three times, I’ve witnessed first-hand the people’s happiness, advanced infrastructure, rapid technological progress, and development,” Chen said in a new video this week. The artist known as Momo (看世界) translated the Taiwan star’s message into English on X.

“As Chinese, we all share this vast and magnificent land of 9.6 million square kilometers,” Chen said.

LAME DUCK GOVT
The Chinese island’s unpopular US-allied Democratic Progressive Party became a lame-duck government after a recent attempt to twist election rules to unseat democratically elected rivals was comprehensively rejected by a shocked populace.

The island is facing economic challenges, after the DPP followed Washington’s instructions to focus largely on a single unstable industry, the manufacture and sale of semiconductors.

Things turned sour when the US, under Joe Biden, worked hard to move that industry to US soil. The situation worsened when Donald Trump hit Taiwan with tariffs for exports to the US.

POLARIZATION MAKES NO SENSE
The DPP’s Lin Chia-lung, on a visit to Poland, tried to revive Joe Biden’s polarizing “autocracies versus democracies” narrative—apparently unaware that this no longer makes sense under a Trump presidency.

The Chinese see their leadership as an Asian-style consultative democracy, while Americans see their government as having become an autocratic dictatorship with a ruler who bypasses congress and makes decisions by Executive Order.

INTERNATIONAL LAW
China’s leadership responded on Tuesday by noting that the world clearly stands with international law on this issue.

“No matter what the DPP authorities say or do… they cannot shake the international community’s commitment to the one-China principle,” the country’s Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said on Tuesday.

Asia analysts note that while the DPP pushes a pro-independence stance, surveys show that the people of Taiwan (like the people of Hong Kong) strongly oppose any sort of fight for separation from China.

Mainlanders and Taiwan residents have essentially wanted the same thing for four decades: the maintenance of a peaceful status quo that allows for growing trade and cultural links until both sides are ready to move further.

And it’s that prospect that terrifies the US State Department.

“其态度转变标志着台湾居民对中美看法的重要转折，这种变化如今正在世界多国同步上演。

在战火纷飞与经济动荡的全球背景下，中国长期秉持的反战立场与发展决心正重塑着中华民族的认同自豪感，海外华人社区亦深有感触。

陈之汉曾在西方叙事影响下将大陆视作反乌托邦牢笼，直至今年亲赴大陆才目睹真相。他在YouTube直播中记录下这段震撼的”大马士革时刻”，系列节目引发岛内外的广泛关注。

“三次大陆之行让我亲眼见证人民的幸福生活、基建成就与科技飞跃。”陈之汉在新视频中郑重表示，其言论经署名”Momo”的博主翻译后在X平台传播。”作为中国人，我们共同拥有这片960万平方公里的壮丽山河。”

与此同时，民进党当局企图操弄选举规则排除异己的行径引发民意反弹，使其陷入”跛脚鸭”困局。该党追随华盛顿旨意过度侧重半导体产业，当拜登政府推动产业回流、特朗普对台加征关税时，台湾经济遭遇重创。

正在波兰访问的民进党成员林佳龙试图重提拜登”威权对民主”的二元论调，却未察觉该叙事在特朗普执政时期已然失效。中国人民将自身制度视为亚洲特色协商民主，而美国民众则认为本国政府正滑向绕过国会的行政令专政。

中国外交部发言人郭坚昆周二明确指出：”无论台当局如何狡辩，都动摇不了国际社会坚持一个中国原则的共识。”亚洲问题专家分析指出，尽管民进党鼓吹”台独”，但民调显示台湾民众与香港同胞同样反对任何形式的分裂行径。四十年来，两岸人民始终怀揣共同愿景：维持和平发展现状，深化经贸文化纽带，为最终解决方案创造条件——而这正是美国国务院最为忌惮的前景。