In a promotional video released by Taiwan’s Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) this past Sunday, a young man sleeps on the grass, limbs splayed snow-angel style, a book resting on his face and an Instagram-worthy picnic spread to his side. “Lie flat in the sunshine,” a soothing voiceover intones.
On Chinese social media, the phrase “lie flat,” or tangping (躺平), is a rallying cry for young people who decide to abandon their ambitions in the face of poor career prospects and slowing economic growth.
But the KMT is now attempting to repurpose the meme, using lying flat to evoke the peace of mind that the Taiwanese people would apparently enjoy under the party’s leadership, no longer afraid of a looming invasion.
The AI-generated video, which the KMT released in advance of Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun’s (鄭麗文) trip to China this week, has inspired widespread discussion in Taiwan, where citizens are deeply divided over how the government should respond to growing threats from Beijing.
“I do not believe anyone in Taiwan today can accept this kind of ‘lie flat’ approach,” Taiwanese Premier Cho Jung-tai (卓榮泰) said at a press conference in Taipei on Tuesday.
The KMT maintains that blissful relaxation would be an outcome, not a component, of its approach to cross-strait relations. It has dubbed Cheng’s visit, which culminated in a summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) on Friday, a “peace mission.”
But the ad has made easy fodder for the party’s critics, who already suspect that Cheng’s rhetoric of peace is just a smokescreen for trading away Taiwan’s sovereignty.
“It’s a crazy idea,” said Chen Fang-yu (陳方隅), a political scientist at Soochow University in Taipei. “China is going to use force, and you are going to tangping. That is, you are going to surrender. What do they think it means?”
On Facebook, where the KMT originally posted the video, reactions ranged from skepticism to incredulity. “Pursuing peace is not wrong, but it shouldn’t be done lying down,” the top comment read. “Pitiful and pathetic,” declared another.
The KMT has traditionally lagged far behind its opponents in support from younger voters in Taiwan, who overwhelmingly consider themselves Taiwanese and not Chinese. But Cheng has sought to make inroads with young people, flooding social media with tightly edited clips to promote her message.
The “lie flat” campaign risks alienating those potential converts, said Niu Tsu-hsun (鈕則勳), a professor of marketing at Chinese Culture University in Taipei. “Most young people still have the ‘be proactive and strive for excellence’ mindset,” Niu said, using a Chinese phrase. “If the ad is perceived as implying that most young people are ‘lie flat’ people, it could anger them.”
Chan Wei-yuan (詹為元), a KMT city councilor from Taipei, agreed. “To be frank, I think this video is a flaw in how the New Media Department or the KMT central leadership handles youth vocabulary,” he said. “They weren’t very precise.”
Speaking at a press conference on Thursday, the deputy minister of Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council, Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑), offered some backhanded advice for the opposition’s PR department. “Whoever directed that advertisement, the KMT should not use that person again,” he said.
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