I expected to enter a sea of blue at the Kuomintang Party’s final rally – the congregation of the pan-blue movement to retain, if not strengthen or solidify, Taiwan’s relationship with Beijing – on January 9. Instead, it was a sea of red, and almost every person in the rally held the national flag, the Republic of China flag, in the hand – if not painted on their face or plastered on a shirt.

International media tend to oversimplify the conflict of Taiwan’s presidential election. Blindsided by months of protests in Hong Kong, Taiwan is framed as facing that same uncertain chaos. Certainly China is attempting to steer the country in their own favor, but the titan’s gameplay in Taiwan will involve many more steps, and they start with small movements.

The daunting fear over Taiwan’s election comes down to words. Incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen pointedly calls the nation “Republic of China-Taiwan,” fitting into the status quo but giving a small nod to the activists who yearn for independence. In this way, KMT challenger Han Kuo-yu argues that he wants to remain the Republic of China, implying he won’t pass Taiwan off to China, yet he won’t do anything to stir the giant and stop them from investing heavily in the liberal economy.

And in this way, Han grabbed the upper hand, possibly at great cost.

Contrary to the promises they spout on the podium, voters favor stability, or even worse, a return to past ways. But most fragile of all is this idea of national identity and the desire to remain as the country is. Independence requires a break; freedom is often a blood pact. Whether his intentions are to return to the nation where he studied and worked, Han can claim he will preserve Taiwan as it is today with that name and that flag, but the method stirs huge repercussions.

From casually asking Han supporters their opinion at the KMT rally, the primary objective was to stay as the Republic of China. When a 50-year-old Taipei resident was asked to describe the future she wanted, she dreamed of seeing young people owning homes and connecting with the world, but her “most important issue” was to retain the country’s identity. For her, that was the Republic of China, though similar in theory to what some see in a Republic of Taiwan. After the KMT has struggled to retain relevance (at least from what I’ve read), the party appears to have caught onto the nationalist bug that inflicts other disenchanted groups in other nations, and Taiwan’s flag and name become campaign material.

Another Han supporter scathingly told us that Tsai may display the flag while she speaks publicly, but she doesn’t truly believe in it. Maybe this was due to that word choice dilemma, but this language reminded me of the overgeneralizations that Republican voters use to categorize liberals, and vice versa. Tsai’s administration certainly made liberal moves, leading the nation and the region in social reform with the legalization of same-sex marriage. And in trade and diplomacy, the administration strengthened reliance on other nations, from my own troubled government to Southeast Asia with the New Southbound Policy. But other than express support for Hong Kong, Tsai has not taken serious moves to break a relationship with China, and days before the election, her foreign affairs minister told Beijing not to read deeply into Saturday’s results.

If I had not been reading the news, I would have thought I stumbled on Taiwan’s national day rather than a political rally. The national flag is not a symbol to invoke during a campaign, because the act of running for office is inherently greedy, even if there is greater goodwill behind it. Even if many people are disturbed with the political connections and implications the flag represents, it still stands as shorthand for Taiwan. With little true understanding of what “Republic of China” truly means, it is today’s Taiwan to most folks, and the rest of the world. Invoking the flag for any political campaign is a deeply risky tactic, generating this climate of “national doom,” and I fear future elections around the world will take on this tone. Nationalist sentiment might hold more nuance in Taiwan, but the rhetoric and imagery is equally terrifying.