Secessionists of a feather flock together: China Daily editorial

The chaos in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region has provided Tsai Ing-wen, the separatist leader of Taiwan, and her Democratic Progressive Party with an excuse to slander the "one country, two systems", which the Chinese mainland practices in order to realize complete national reunification.

The massive defeat Tsai and the DPP suffered in last year's local election shows what lies in store for them in the island's leadership election next year. Which explains her desperation to use the unrest in Hong Kong as a tool to garner voters' support on the island to win next year's polls. No wonder she and her party don't want the Hong Kong demonstrations to end.

Tsai has chosen to be silent on the violence unleashed by the demonstrators in Hong Kong and instead has vowed to provide humanitarian aid for the rioters, hinting that they have been "unfairly" treated.

By openly supporting the Hong Kong demonstrators, Tsai is adding fuel to the fire. She has also joined the United States, the island's most avid supporter, in fanning passions in the SAR.

Playing the role of a US acolyte, the Tsai administration is trying to curry favor with the White House with the aim of strengthening its hand on the island and arrest its downward political slide.

The fact that the unrest in Hong Kong has enough surplus value for Tsai to exploit is evident in Joshua Wong, a Hong Kong secessionist detained on Saturday for inciting violence and illegal assembly, flying to Taiwan on Tuesday for a two-day meeting with his "like-minded hosts".

Not surprisingly, the invitation was extended by a foundation funded by DPP officials shortly after he was released on bail on the very day he was arrested.

More than 10 Hong Kong separatists have been welcomed by Taiwan. But according to reports, they have complained about the poor living conditions there, and regretted their decision to visit Taiwan after seeing many of the protesters being released on bail so soon, and afraid of being stigmatized for their engagement with Taiwan.

Neither the Taiwan nor the Hong Kong separatists take the other seriously as each side has an axe to grind. They only treat each other as an expedient card to play to make short-term gains. But both conceal their shared belief that Beijing is determined to defend the core national interests, and nothing can stop it from doing so.