So, in the canine world, “lying flat” (tang ping, 躺平) for peace — which is what the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) is suggesting our youth do in the face of threats from China — is nothing less than to surrender in exchange for peace. Does a “lying flat” kind of surrender even remotely resemble a person with a backbone? The party posted a video on its YouTube account in which people were lying on the ground, promoting the slogan: “Only with peace can we lie flat. The KMT’s narrative that unification would lead to peace and allow Taiwanese to “lie flat” is an oversimplification that conceals the core premise. Is a KMT that touts “lying flat,” an extension of its lazy opportunism, anything other than a malignant tumor that Taiwan urgently needs to remove?

Source: Taipei Times April 08, 2026 18:02 UTC