Midterm local elections today in Taiwan. This is the main election before the presidential and legislative elections of 2024. With, in the minds of voters, a threat that we always think about, without ever talking about it, the threat of an invasion of Taiwan by mainland China.
From neighborhood leaders to mayors, including the full range of local elected officials, Taiwanese voters will choose among the candidates who will represent them for four years. A vote that comes to put an end to an electoral campaign that Le Figaro described as rather good-natured. “ The campaign addresses issues of housing, road safety and public toilets. “, thus reports this newspaper.
However, ” on the other side of the strait, these elections do not leave people indifferent either “. Because these local elections in Taiwan are coupled with a referendum for or against the right to vote at 18 (against 20 at present). But the youngest are prone to independence ideas “, highlighted Le Figarobeing by this newspaper pointed out that this consultation “ could further encourage Taiwan to declare formal independence “. Reason why this election will take place “ in the shadow of china “, Formulates this daily.
” It is hard to imagine, seen from Europe, the visceral fear that the Taiwanese can feel at the idea of being invaded and absorbed by mainland China, bids the site of Release. It is a constant concern. After Hong Kong was brought to heel, Taiwan understood that she was next on the list. The question on the island is not whether there will ever be a war with Beijing but rather when. “, assures Freed.
Which newspaper, after a very documented analysis, reports “ the US intelligence hypothesis “regarding the possible invasion of Taiwan by China and which boils down to a conflict” in preparation for 2024 “.
McKinsey, Captain Macron’s band-aid
In France, it could not be more serene than yesterday; in public, Emmanuel Macron displayed himself about the two judicial inquiries opened by the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office on his electoral campaign accounts for 2017 and 2022. A case that sticks to the skin of the president. ” A plaster » that this affair, formulates The Parisianin reference to the medical adhesive which Captain Haddock cannot manage to get rid of in one of the adventures of Tintin entitled The Calculus Affair. ” Like seven months ago “, recalls this newspaper, when the McKinsey affair broke out, named after this American consulting firm, whose links with the head of state had then been pinned down in a Senate report.
This daily also reports that yesterday, the “ troops ” Of the president ” were in no hurry — far from it — to bring up the subject. “There’s nothing, radio silence “, Testifies an executive strategist. What another interprets as: The idea is to let it go. To make the round back, in short “.
In this newspaper, a ministerial adviser believes that “ those who are convinced that Macron is rotten anyway will not change their minds. And the voices of reason say to themselves it’s true that it’s a stain, but they won’t change their opinion. Unless the conclusion of the PNF was: there was indeed illegal financing of the campaign. And in this case it would be a blast “. Justice is not there, which makes this case ” a slow poison “, States The Parisian.
The problem of this case, sorry Le Figaro, is whether the mere opening of an investigation cannot be anticipated proof of guilt. Gold “ the mere mention of a referral to the National Financial Prosecutor’s Office instills the idea of fault or dishonesty. The judicial nature of the proceedings is not synonymous with political neutrality. The PNF agenda is de facto a major element of the political agenda “says Le Figaroin reference to the “Fillon affair” during the 2017 election campaign.