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Lanxing Wei
Professor Enos
First Year Write Multiling Writers
Rhetorical Analysis Draft 1
25 January 2016
Does Taiwans Election Challenge China?
January 16 is a day for the result of 2016 Taiwan election. Tsai Ing-wen was chosen by
over 680 million Taiwanese, won over 50 percent votes, and become the first female
president in Taiwan. For Taiwanese, this is an extraordinary day for them. They use their
rights to choose their president. What their votes for is actually not Tsai Ing-wen herself but
the democracy itself. For Tsai Ing-wen and her Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), this is
their first victory that they defeat Kuomintang (KMT) and take control of the legislature.
However, this result is not satisfied by everyone, especially the government and numerous
people in China mainland. Disappointment, doubt, fear and even anger swallow their hearts.
Most of them dislike Tsai Ing-wen, because they think this new president may lead Taiwan to
independence that will cause China lose the island which Chinese insist its belong to them.
Does Taiwans election really challenge China? Doug Bandow, a senior fellow at the Cato
Institute in Washington, expresses his opinions on his commentary Taiwans Election poses
a Challenge for China. in the Japan Times.
Obviously, its easy to catch Bandows opinion from his title. From his perspective,
Taiwans election indeed becomes a challenge for China. In his article, Bandow anticipates
what will happen after the Taiwan election. He initially introduce the result of Taiwan

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election and historical fact between Taiwan and mainland of China. According to Bandow, in
1949, Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) was defeated by Chinese Communist Party, the leader of
KMT moved its government to Taiwan, where is an island that far away from the Chinese
capital. With Washingtons assistance, Taiwan gain its protection. However, with the
development of the mainland of China and more benefits can be sought from it, President
Jimmy Carter switched official recognition to Beijing. Since then, Taiwan has ambiguous
national stats in the world. Moreover, Bandow continues to say Taiwan and mainland of
China gain tighter ties in the recent years because of economic development and the 1992
consensus of one China, butChinas status as a communist dictatorship obviously discourage
closer ties. According to Bandow, More than 80 percent of Taiwanese would support
independence if they didnt fear a military response. Also, in Bandows opinion, the next
President, Tsai, may not agree with the 1922 consensus of one China but insist two Chinas,
which poses a challenge to China. In addition, face to this capable situation, Bandow
express his suggestions to Washington, Taiwan, and China to avoid the war.
Why did Doug Bandow write this article? The rhetorical situation in this article is
accessibility. Recently, Taiwan elections result is the hottest and surprising news in Asia and
International Politics, because of Taiwans ambiguous national stats and DPPs first victory.
As Bandow states, In one of the least surprising election results in Taiwanese history, Tsai
Ing-wen has won the presidency in a landslide. Even more dramatically, the Democratic
Progressive Party (DPP) will take control of the legislature for the first time. Since the
different political party won, the new leaders of Taiwan must have different views. These
differences will absolutely influence Taiwan, mainland of China, and international society. In

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order to consider the consequences, Bandow comes to anticipate the decision of Governments
and what they should do to avoid conflicts. These things inspire Bandow to write his
commentary.
In order to write his anticipation more logically, Bandows uses one of the analysis
appeal. Initially, he introduce plenty of historical facts that indicates Logos, which means he
uses the logic when he is writing. Here comes a concrete example, As China began to
reform economically it also developed a commercial relationship with Taipei. While the
ruling KMT agrees with the mainland that there is but one China, the DPP remains formally
committed to independence.(Bandow) From this sentence, audiences can know KMT agrees
with one China bur DPP does not. Clearly, historical fact can convince audiences and lead
audience to understand the background of Taiwans Politics. Then the author can continue to
write how DDP will challenge China to lose their Taiwan island. Hence, Bandows indeed
uses Logos.
However, although the author uses Logos, there is one thing imperfect. In order to
show how Chinas status as a communist dictatorship obviously discourages closer ties,
Bandows states, More than 80 percent of Taiwanese would support independence if they
didnt fear a military response. This sentence seems to be perfect, because it include data
that makes it convinced. While the author doesnt cite it, audiences doesnt know where this
data comes from. Without citation, this data can be thought as a makeup data. Therefore,
think is the drawback of Bandows article.
Speaking of the writing purposes, Bandows article includes more than one purpose.
Initially, according to his anticipate, he warns people that Taiwans election challenges China.

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This is the main purpose that can catch from the title Taiwans Election poses a Challenge
for China. He first introduces why Taiwan and the mainland of China will have different
political ideology, second explain why they have closer relationship in the resent years, then
explain why some Taiwanese are unwilling to return to their motherland, and finally states
what different opinion does the new president of Taiwan and her party hold that makes
Chinese fell challenge to lose their island. Furthermore, his purpose is to offer his suggestion
for government of the United States to handle this issue. One of his suggestion states,
American officials should explore ideas for a peaceful modus vivendi. One possibility is for
Washington to repeat its acceptance of one China and eschew any military commitment to
Taiwan.(Bandow) According to Bandow, he thinks its better to admit the One China and
avoid military commitment to Taiwan, therefore the Unite States can avoid conflict and
encourage peace in Asia. In addition, Bandow hopes Chinese can realize the democracy from
Taiwans election. He states, Taiwans people have modeled democracy with Chinese
characteristics. Hopefully someday Chinas people will be able to do the same.(Bandow) In
accordance with Bnadow, Taiwans election reflect Taiwans democracy, which is he admired
and Chinese people dont have. He hopes Chinese people can own democracy one day. Thus,
his purposes are to warn Taiwans election challenges China, persuade Washingtons decision
can avoid conflict and encourage peace, and wish Chinese people can realize democracy.
From the title and purposes of Bandow, its easier to define his audiences. Since his
article is written in English, his audiences must be people who know English. They can be
English speakers, and some high-educated and non-English speaker who know English well.
With the title Taiwans Election poses a Challenge for China, his audiences can also be

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people who are Chinese and Taiwanese as well as people who care about Chinas politics.
Nonetheless, his article is about politics, government officials will become his audiences.
Refer to the genre of the article, this is a commentary. A commentary is an writing
genre that the author can write to express his or her personal opinions about one thing, and
his opinions can be informing, arguing, agreeing and criticizing. From the top of his article,
the Japan Times mark his article as commentary. Indeed, all his article is about his comment
on Taiwans election. From the beginning to the end, he still uses his own words to introduce
the historical fact, anticipate the consequence, and give some suggestions to Washington
about how to respond this issue. It should be no wonder a commentary.
Although it was a political commentary that publish in the Japan Times website, the
persona of this article was not fully limited. Its absolutely a professional article, for Bandow
uses some professional terms to describe some situation, such as one China. Moreover, the
whole commentary without a single picture and video which makes his commentary dry.
However, the persona also include fun, because this article has slang. Once, he writes, The
objective would be to make it easier for both China and Taiwan to kick the can down the
road.(Bandow) Kick the can down the road is a slang. A slang shows up in a professional
article makes people felt funny and it also help people to understand what the author means.
This funny part in the persona should be praised.
Absolutely, this commentary does well in most of its part, but the design is not satisfied.
Initially, the whole article was purely words, not with a single picture, video, chart to explain
the content. Also, the font size of the title is too small to attract audience. Furthermore, the
spaces between sentence are too narrow. Sadly, the design of this commentary is the biggest

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flaw of it.
Taiwans Election poses a Challenge for China by Doug Bandow may not correct
and his opinions may not accepted by audiences, but this commentary indeed has its merits.
However, if Bandow can correct his drawbacks, his commentary can be better.

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Works Cited
Bandow, Doug. "Taiwan's Election Poses a Challenge for China" The Japan Times. 18 Jan.
2016. Web. 24 Jan. 2016.