#VivaTaiwan () is an online campaign triggered by a letter to the members of the Brazilian

Chamber of Deputies The chamber of deputies is the lower house in many bicameral legislatures and the sole house in some unicameral legislatures. Description Historically, French Chamber of Deputies was the lower house of the French Parliament during the Bourbon R ...

, sent by the

Chinese Chinese can refer to: * Something related to China * Chinese people, people of Chinese nationality, citizenship, and/or ethnicity **''Zhonghua minzu'', the supra-ethnic concept of the Chinese nation ** List of ethnic groups in China, people of va ...

embassy in the wake of Tsai Ing-wen's second inauguration as the

president of Taiwan The president of the Republic of China, now often referred to as the president of Taiwan, is the head of state of the Republic of China (ROC), as well as the commander-in-chief of the Republic of China Armed Forces. The position once had aut ...

. The embassy asked the members to refrain from taking part in the ceremony or sending congratulatory messages. The letter was leaked on Twitter by Brazilian deputy

Paulo Eduardo Martins Paulo Eduardo Lima Martins (born 20 April 1981) is a Brazilian politician and journalist. He is also a monarchist. Early life and career Martins was born on 20 April 1981 in Presidente Venceslau. Prior to his political career, Martins was a jou ...

, and sparked the Twitter trend and

hashtag A hashtag is a metadata tag that is prefaced by the hash (also known as pound or octothorpe) sign, ''#''. On social media, hashtags are used on microblogging and photo-sharing services such as Twitter or Instagram as a form of user-generated ...

#VivaTaiwan.

Letter

On 13 May 2020, the Chinese embassy in Brasília sent a letter to the members of the Chamber of Deputies, the lower house of the National Congress of Brazil. The letter termed Tsai Ing-wen as the "local leader" of Taiwan, and asked the Chamber of Deputies to "educate" its members on the Taiwan issue in accordance with Brazil's commitment to the One-China policy. It also asked the members to refrain from taking part in Tsai's swearing-in ceremony as the

President of Taiwan The president of the Republic of China, now often referred to as the president of Taiwan, is the head of state of the Republic of China (ROC), as well as the commander-in-chief of the Republic of China Armed Forces. The position once had aut ...

after her victory in the

2020 elections The following elections were scheduled to occur in 2020. The International Foundation for Electoral Systems maintains a comprehensive list of upcoming elections on its E-Guide Platform. The National Democratic Institute also maintains a calend ...

, sending congratulatory messages to Taiwanese authorities or maintaining official contacts with them. The letter was leaked on Twitter on 26 May 2020 by

, a Brazilian deputy from the Social Christian Party. The authenticity of the letter was confirmed by the Lusa News Agency. Martins termed it as an "affront", and sent a congratulatory message to Tsai. Taiwan's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) replied to his tweet, saying that the Taiwanese government and people "sincerely appreciate the friendship and support of Brazil." MOFA spokesperson Joanne Ou thanked Martins for safeguarding democratic values, adding that democracy is a mutual value shared by both Taiwan and Brazil.

Online campaign

Martins's tweet triggered a Twitter trend, #VivaTaiwan ('Long Live Taiwan'), by Brazilian netizens. It became the top trend globally on 26 May 2020, and led to many tweets in support of the Taiwan independence movement. Martins's tweet was retweeted by Brazilian politician

Eduardo Bolsonaro Eduardo Nantes Bolsonaro (born 10 July 1984) is a Brazilian politician, lawyer and federal police officer. He is the third child of Jair Bolsonaro, the 38th President of Brazil. Career He has been a member of the Chamber of Deputies since 20 ...

Diplomatic significance

LSE IDEAS LSE IDEAS is a foreign policy think tank at the London School of Economics and Political Science. IDEAS was founded as a think tank for Diplomacy and Strategy in February 2008, succeeding the Cold War Studies Centre founded in 2004. The Chair is ...

associate Charles Dunst said that the incident marks an end of the non-interventionist

Chinese foreign policy The People's Republic of China is a Communist state that came to power in 1949 after a civil war. After the Korean war in 1950-1953 and the Sino-Soviet split in the 1960s, China emerged as a great power and one of the three big players in the ...

. Indian author

Sandipan Deb Sandipan Deb (born 1 August 1962) is an Indian journalist and writer. He has been the managing editor of Outlook (Indian magazine), Outlook, the editor of The Financial Express (India), The Financial Express and was the founder-editor of ''Outloo ...

said that the response by Brazilian netizens was a "little

samba Samba (), also known as samba urbano carioca (''urban Carioca samba'') or simply samba carioca (''Carioca samba''), is a Brazilian music genre that originated in the Afro-Brazilian communities of Rio de Janeiro in the early 20th century. Havin ...

setback" to the Chinese concept of '' tianxia''.

References

{{reflist Brazil–Taiwan relations Hashtags