According to the Taiwanese media “United Daily News”, the U.S. Navy C-40 transport plane that the U.S. congressman was aboard lifted off from Manila, Philippines at 16:40 on Nov. 9 for a direct flight to Taiwan, with signal identification turned on during the process, and landed at Taipei Songshan Airport at 18:17. The newspaper reported at 19:32 p.m. that the transport plane in question had lifted off and left the island.
At the same time, a Chinese music piece called “brainwashing song” by the Taiwanese people, “Going to Taiwan in 2035”, was a hit on Chinese social media platforms such as Weibo and Douyin, and was even mentioned by China’s CCTV, making the Taiwanese people even more anxious, believing it to be unification propaganda.
Most of the mainland Chinese netizens, on the other hand, believe that 2035 is too late to reclaim Taiwan, and that their parents may have passed away not seeing this day. Another netizen pointed out that if a high-speed railway to Taiwan is built in 2035, then planning and construction work will have to be done about 10 years in advance.
According to the “Outline of the National Comprehensive Three-Dimensional Transportation Network Plan” issued by the Chinese State Council in March 2021, the Chinese government plans that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait will be able to interconnect by 2035 at the latest with high-speed rail.
On the basis of this plan, Chinese singers Meng Hudong and Pang Huichen released a song titled “Going to Taiwan in 2035” on September 18, with lyrics that clearly indicate the time point, such as “In that year 2035, go see Ali Mountain mentioned in a love song.”
Some people claim that the song only expresses the ideal of building high-speed rail to Taiwan in 2035. An article reprinted on the People’s Daily Overseas Edition website in March this year pointed out that “cross-strait reunification, moreover, is a historical trend…Railroad to Taipei is only a detail of the thousands of future plans across the Taiwan Strait, after the unification, the two sides of the Taiwan Strait will play a greater synergy, moving towards the era of great development of the Chinese nation.”
However, it is no coincidence that “Going to Taiwan in 2035” has become a popular song on the Internet of China. In recent times, topics about Taiwan or “armed reunification” have been hot on Chinese social media platforms such as Weibo, WeChat and Douyin.
On Weibo alone, the topic of “Taiwan” has seen 3.96 billion reads and 1.099 million discussions; the topic of “armed reunification” has 2.26 billion reads and 42,000 discussions; the topic of “Taiwan reunification” has also been read 19.238 million times.
Under the hashtag titled #Reunification Across the Taiwan Strait, military blogger Tian Liu said in a video he produced that since Qin Shi Huang unified the six kingdoms, “reunification of the motherland is the most righteous thing under the sky.”
“The only way out of Taiwan is Wutong (the harmonious sound of armed unification) …… It is difficult for the mob to be rational, so it is also difficult to besiege it and make them surrender,” said a Weibo user nicknamed “HW former HR” who left a message under the hashtag #UnificationofTaiwan.
Some military fans predict that mainland China will take further tough measures, including setting up a no-fly zone around Taiwan and imposing an arms embargo on the island.