Massive Pro-Trump Crowd in Taiwan chants “Fight for Trump” During Rally

With throngs of people waving the stars-and-stripes and signs with slogans such as "Stop the steal" in central Taipei Saturday (Dec. 19), passersby would have been forgiven for mistaking the scene for an American battleground state like Pennsylvania or Georgia — if not for the iconic Taipei 101 looming in the background.

The rally was organized by The Epoch Times newspaper, which listed six main reasons for holding the event: support for U.S.-Taiwan cooperation; support for independent media free from Chinese state control; opposition to "pro-China" mainstream media; opposition to censorship by social media and corporations; opposition to political collusion with China; and opposition to business groups that choose profit over national interests.

The Epoch Times is affiliated with the Falun Gong spiritual movement, whose practitioners are heavily persecuted in China, and frequently targets the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) in its pages. The publication was a significant supporter of President Trump's re-election bid, buying up more Facebook ad space than any other organization besides the Trump campaign itself.

The outlet has also notably still not called the presidential election for Joe Biden, even after the Electoral College's confirmation of the election results last week, with Biden taking 306 electoral votes to Trump's 232.

On its website, The Epoch Times regularly updates the progress of the many lawsuits Trump and his supporters have filed, the vast majority of which have failed to stick. Still, the site proclaims: "Election Outcome Unclear Amid Legal Challenges."

This puts the publication in line with the over 80 percent of Trump voters. While demonstrations in support of Trump's quixotic cause to overturn the election results are outliers outside the U.S., that Saturday's rally drew hundreds in the Taiwanese capital comes as no surprise. Taiwan was the only country to favor the incumbent president over Biden (42 to 30 percent) in surveys conducted in various Asian and European countries before the election.

Trump's support in Taiwan is largely based on his willingness to take on China, which threatens to absorb the nation — by force if necessary — and uses its clout to lure away its remaining allies and exclude it from international bodies. Since 2018, Trump's America has clashed with China over a range of issues, including trade, intellectual property rights, Hong Kong, human rights abuses in Xinjiang and Tibet, the South China Sea, the coronavirus pandemic, and 5G.