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Lanxing Wei
Professor Enos
First Year Write Multiling Writers
Rhetorical Analysis Final
3 February 2016
Does Taiwans Election Challenge China?
Taiwans election has become a buzzword in International Politics. 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. However, this result is not satisfied by everyone, especially the
government and numerous people in mainland China. 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 it belongs to them. Whats the relationship between mainland China and
Taiwan? Does Taiwans election really challenge China? Doug Bandow expresses his
opinions in his commentary Taiwans Election poses a Challenge for China. in the Japan
Times. No matter what Bandows expresses, speaking of the rhetorical analysis itself, his
commentary has both its merits and drawbacks.
From Bandows perspective, Taiwans election indeed becomes a challenge for China. In
his article, Bandow anticipates what will happen after the Taiwan election. He initially
introduces the result of Taiwan election and historical fact between Taiwan and mainland

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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 gains its
protection. However, with the development of the mainland China and more benefits can be
sought from it, President Jimmy Carter switched official recognition to Beijing (Bandow).
Since then, Taiwan has ambiguous national stats in the world. Moreover, Bandow continues
to say Taiwan and mainland China gain tighter ties in the recent years because of economic
development and the 1992 consensus of one China, but Chinas 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. Overall, what pushes Bandow to write this article?
The rhetorical situation in this article is accessibility. The author, Doug Bandow, is an
American political writer. He is a senior fellow at the Cato Institute and the writer of a
number of books about politics. Recently, Taiwan elections result is the hottest and
surprising news in Asia and International Politics. This kind of event must pushes Bandow to
write something. Moreover, 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. 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

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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 China, and international society.
In order to consider the consequences, Bandow comes to anticipate the decision of
Governments and what they should do to avoid conflicts. These factors push him to finish his
commentary, whereas what kind of people will become his audiences?
The audiences can be in a broad scope. 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 speakers who know English well. With the title Taiwans
Election poses a Challenge for China, his audiences can also be 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. In addition, Bandows commentary
publishes in the Japanese Times. Thus, his audiences can include plenty of Japanese people.
This may indicate many Japanese keeping a watchful eye on their neighbor, China. After
identifying the audiences, what is Bandows purpose of writing his commentary?
Speaking of the writing purposes, Bandows article includes more than one purpose.
Initially, according to his anticipate, Bandow warns people that Taiwans election challenges
China. 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 explains why they have closer relationship in the recent
years, then explains 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

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makes Chinese fell challenge to lose their island. Furthermore, his purpose is to offer his
suggestion for the government of the United States to handle this issue. One of his suggestion
claims, 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, so 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 Bandow, 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. Since the purposes are clear, what genre does the author
choose to achieve his purposes?
Refer to the genre of the article, this is a commentary. From the top of his article, the
Japan Times website marks his article as commentary. A commentary is a writing genre that
the author expresses his or her personal opinions about one thing, and his opinions can be
informing, arguing, agreeing and criticizing. Indeed, Bandow informs the audiences what
happen in Taiwans election and the relationship between China and Taiwan, then he
anticipates what will happen next and argues what the government should do to avoid conflict.
With the type of commentary, Bandow states his personal opinions and achieves his writing

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purposes. However, will the genre influence the persona?

The persona of this commentary is very wise and interesting. The point of view is the
third person; therefore, the whole article can be more professional and objective. If the author
uses the first person to write, the article becomes more unprofessional and subjective. For a
commentary, being more objective is better than being more subjective. Its a wise choice for
the author to choose the third point as his point of view. Furthermore, 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 an article makes people felt interesting and it also helps people to understand
what the author means. After doing well in the persona, what does the rhetorical analysis the
author do to make his commentary better?
In order to make the commentary better, the rhetorical appeal Bandow uses is Logos.
Initially, he introduces 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, the historical fact can convince audiences and lead the
audiences 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, even though the author uses Logos, there is one thing imperfect. In order to

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show how Chinas status as a communist dictatorship obviously discourages closer ties,
Bandows says, More than 80 percent of Taiwanese would support independence if they
didnt fear a military response. This sentence seems to be perfect, because it includes data
that makes it convinced. While the author doesnt cite it, audiences dont know where this
data comes from. Without citation, this data can be thought as a make-up data. Sadly, this is a
drawback of Bandows commentary. Except this drawback, does this commentary have
another flaw?
Indeed, the design of this commentary is boring, which is the biggest flaw. The whole
commentary is purely black words, without any color and underline words. Also, the font size
of the title is too small to attract the audiences, and the spaces between sentence are too
narrow to read. Moreover, it doesnt include a single picture, video, chart or map to further
explain his opinions. If he can change the words color and font size, his article can be easier
to read; if he can underline some words, his audiences can be quicker to catch his point; if he
can add some pictures or chart to show the Taiwans election, his commentary can be more
attractive.
The content of Taiwans Election poses a Challenge for China by Doug Bandow in
the Japanese Times may not be correct and his opinions may not be accepted by audiences,
but this commentary indeed has its merits. It has an interesting topic, meaningful purposes,
and strong evidence. However, speaking of the boring design and incited data, 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.