Taiwan election angers China: BBC News Review

Taiwan elects new president, angering Beijing.

This is News Review from BBC Learning English,

where we help you understand news headlines in English.

I'm Beth. And I'm Georgie.

Make sure you watch to the end to learn the vocabulary

you need to talk about this story.

And don't forget to subscribe to our channel to learn more English

from the headlines. Now, the story.

Taiwan has elected William Lai as president,

keeping the Democratic Progressive Party in power for a third term.

The new president wants

Taiwan to remain independent, which has angered China.

Beijing wants a peaceful reunification,

but has also not ruled out the use of force.

You've been looking at the headlines,

what's the vocabulary that people need to understand this news story in English?

We have, 'status quo', 'fumes' and 'rock solid'.

This is News Review from

BBC Learning English.  

Let's have a look at our first headline.

This one's from The Conversation. In re-electing its government,

Taiwan has kept the status quo,

but the victory hides

a transformed political landscape  

Now this headline explains that Taiwan has elected the same government again.

That's 're-election'.

So, they have a new president,

but from the same party.

We're looking at the phrase

'status quo'

What can you tell us about it, Georgie?

Well, 'status quo' is a Latin phrase which means the current state of things

or how things are at the moment.

You can either disrupt or change the status quo or keep and maintain it.

So, Beth, what has Taiwan decided to do in this election?

Well, Taiwan has kept the status quo.

They have stayed the same

because the people have re-elected the same government.

This election hasn't disrupted the status quo.

Can you give us another example. Sure.

For example, if we want to address the climate crisis,

we have to challenge the status quo - change the way we do things.

So, for example, we would have to make sure that our economies use less carbon,

Yes, that's right.

OK, let's look at that again.

Let's have our next headline.

This one's from Al Jazeera. Taiwan's Tsai and Lai

welcome U S support as Beijing fumes over election.

Now, this headline focuses on the reactions

of other countries to the results -

the new president.

It seems like the US are in favour of the result.

But what about China? This headline says that Beijing is fuming.

And 'fuming' is the word that we are looking at. Now, Georgie,

this reminds me of heat and smoke.

Is that relevant here? Well, Beth,

you're on the right track. 'Fume' as a noun means something similar to smoke,

but it's also used as a verb to mean, smoke or vapour coming out.

So you can say that volcanoes fume, for example,

when they erupt when smoke comes out.

OK, but what about in this headline,

because the city of Beijing doesn't actually have smoke coming out of it

because of the presidential election?

No, well that brings us to its other meaning.

So if you think about anger or frustration,

do you think these emotions feel hot or cold? When I'm angry,

I get a bit hot, so I would say a hot emotion. Right,

so imagine you are so angry that you have smoke coming out of your ears.

If you fume, you express extreme anger or annoyance.

So, Beijing fumes over this election.

It seems that China is not happy about the result,

according to this headline.

OK, let's look at that one more time.

Let's have our next headline.

This one's from Reuters. Former US official says commitment to Taiwan

'rock solid'.

So, this headline is about the US's

continued support for Taiwan.

We're looking at the phrase 'rock solid'. A rock is a stone - they're very hard,

but what is solid, and what is 'rock solid'?

OK, well, 'solid' is an adjective which means physically hard

like a rock. A rock is solid.

So when we use the adjective 'rock solid',

we mean that something is very physically hard.

Now, Beth, we're in London and it's freezing in the middle of winter.

So when we walk round our parks, the ground is rock solid.

It's very hard because it's frozen.

That is very true.

But Georgie, like with many of these phrases,

it feels like there's a metaphorical meaning with this as well

because this headline says the US's commitment to Taiwan is rock solid.

Yes, 'rock solid' in this metaphorical sense means

that their support and commitment is very strong or unlikely to change.

You could also say that a friendship is rock solid - means that

it is a very strong relationship, or a football team's defence is rock solid.

You can't get through to score. And our confidence

in you is rock solid because we know that you will improve your English

if you keep watching our videos.

OK, let's look at that again.

We've had 'status quo' - the way things are.

'fumes' - expresses extreme anger or frustration.

'rock solid' - strong or unlikely to change. Now, if you're interested in political stories, click here.

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Thanks for joining us, bye. Bye.