At least one account on Weibo that dared question China’s Taiwan strategy was shut down. Li Kan—the son of the late Taiwanese novelist Li Ao who is popular in China for his pro-unification views and for giving up studying in Taiwan to take a place at Peking University—had for weeks before the election warned the Beijing government that Tsai was going to win the election, and that its policies in both Hong Kong and Taiwan had backfired. After Tsai’s victory was announced, Li published a final post (link in Chinese) on Weibo applauding the result and tagged China’s Taiwan Affairs Office.

Jane Li contributed reporting. 

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