Chinese Military Official Denounces Taiwan’s President for Being Unmarried

BEIJING — An article by a Chinese military official suggesting that Taiwan’s new president was “extreme” and “emotional” because she was unmarried provoked an outcry on Wednesday, undermining the ruling Communist Party’s efforts to win allies across the Taiwan Strait.

The article, written by a senior scholar for the People’s Liberation Army, described Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan’s first female leader, as a “single woman politician” who was prone to a radical style because she lacked the “burden of love, family and children.” It also questioned her loyalty to China because of her family’s ties to Japan.

The article, written by Wang Weixing of the Academy of Military Sciences in Beijing and posted on Tuesday on the website of the International Herald Leader, a newspaper affiliated with the state news agency Xinhua, was roundly denounced as sexist and promptly removed from major mainland news sites.

“It is discrimination against women and being single,” Sun Xingjie, a lecturer at Jilin University in northeast China, wrote in a commentary published by Sina, a news portal. “Putin divorced during his presidency. Has Russia’s strategy changed since?”

On Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter, a user wrote, “Does this mean you will agree to the independence of Taiwan as long as she’s married?”

In Taipei, Lin Jih-wen, a political scientist at Academia Sinica, a research institute, called the commentary “paparazzi news” and said the mainland news media should focus on more substantial issues.

Nonsense. An unhappy Marriage is worse than no marriage anyway, a single person can be as responsible as someone engaged. To carry the burden of a children is a boon and a great commitment. But doesn't necessarily mean you're better person.