Taipei [Taiwan]: As the post-pandemic world will bring new changes to the global political landscape, China's aggressive internal dictatorship and external expansionism is bound to fail and will demonstrate the clearing of a 'political virus' promulgated by Beijing.

The most important post-COVID change will be the geopolitical battle that takes shape between the democratic camp -- Europe, the US, Japan and others -- and the sphere of influence of the Chinese "empire" and its digital dictatorship, forming a clear-cut confrontation, according to Taipei Times.

In the past, the international community has often put practical considerations ahead of values in its desire for access to the Chinese market and it hoped that China moves towards democracy in step with economic development. Advanced democracies have tolerated China's human rights abuses, including the persecution of ethnic minorities and its authoritarian dictatorship.

This has enabled China to deceive the world by hiding behind a mask of reform and opening up, Taipei Times wrote in an editorial piece.

China's gradual increase in expansionism activities prompted the Western world to take notice of the risk posed by the communist nation. The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) taking advantage of the pandemic to launch its "wolf warrior" diplomacy and using it to support its hegemonic goals, which in turn made the democratic camp cooperate to counteract China.

According to Taipei Times, the post-pandemic world will likely be divided into pro-China and anti-China camps. China is using capitalism to develop its brand of socialism by using policy, tax concessions and capital to foster its domestic industry. It is also engaged in counterfeiting and theft of intellectual property rights -- and dumping products on the global market at low prices while setting high market entry barriers to foreign competition.

In addition, COVID-19 has infected more than 180 million people worldwide and caused nearly four million deaths, but China has not engaged in any kind of self-reflection nor apologised. Instead, it has increased suppression tactics in Xinjiang and Hong Kong while escalating its external military expansionism, threatening Taiwan and other countries around the South China Sea.

In the past, Western countries obsessed with the Chinese market have either turned a blind eye to Beijing's bullying of Taiwan or issued feeble formal protest statements, but failed to offer Taiwan strong and just support. Today, Taiwan upholds the universal values of democracy and freedom, which are cherished and treated as invaluable by the West, according to Taipei Times.

In the post-pandemic world, China will no longer be able to do whatever it pleases. As the West has finally realised that the battle with China is a battle for survival, they see peace in the Taiwan Strait as a cornerstone of world stability

Moreover, certain parties have been unable to integrate into Taiwanese society and accept democratic values. There are also a group of people in Taiwan who ignore national security and work on CCP's orders.

These pro-China forces are bound to fail, and when they do, it will demonstrate the post-pandemic advancement of Taiwanese society and the clearing of the political virus, wrote Taipei Times.

Taiwan and mainland China have been governed separately since the end of a civil war more than seven decades ago. However, Beijing continues to view Taiwan as an inseparable part of its territory even though the Chinese Communist Party has never governed the democratic island of around 24 million people.