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Editorial: China's New Year's resolution

On Dec. 26, during a press conference held by China's Taiwan Affairs Office (國台辦), spokesman Zhang Mingqing (張銘清) confirmed a subtle yet important shift in China's policy toward Taiwan in the upcoming year.

While Zhang continued to affirm the "one China" principle, Zhang's demeanor, along with other earlier signs, suggested China is experimenting with a more subtle, less intimidating, yet trickier approach. China is adopting the tactic of divide and conquer through soft persuasion.

Not that China would ever feel embarrassed by its barbaric caveman image. It has threatened Taiwan verbally, conducted periodic military exercises and targeted Taiwan with a large number of warheads. The tactic is not only not working, it is also backfiring by discrediting China's authority. Therefore, China has to find a new way out of this dilemma.

Nowadays, China is resorting to less direct threats. For example, Beijing surprisingly did not make its usual attack against candidates or parties it disliked before the past legislative and local government head elections in Taiwan.

After the election, in the face of an obvious pan-green victory, Beijing's response remained low-key. Zhang simply said the election results reflected the fact that Taiwan's public opinion supported peace and stability, opposed Taiwan independence and advocated the development of cross-strait relations.

How in the world Zhang and Beijing came up with such an absurd interpretation of the election results is, of course, a mystery.

During the Dec. 26 press conference, Zhang continued in the same vein by commenting on issues including the "small three links (小三通)" and the Taiwan Advocates (群策會) group. With respect to the former, Zhang said China is "willing to actively cooperate" for the sake of the people in Kinmen and Matsu. Zhang even tried to smooth things out for those who attended Taiwan Advocates meetings, so they would have a chance of returning to Beijing's bosom. Zhang said attending those meetings "once or twice doesn't necessarily mean support for Lee Teng-hui's (李登輝) ideals."

What China now seeks to do is undermine Taiwanese unity, so that China can have Taiwan on a silver platter. For this reason, it will continue to block dialogue with the DPP and deal only with parties that support the "one China" principle.

Taiwanese businessmen and their families in China are Beijing's next target groups. After several unsuccessful attempts to open up party membership to Taiwanese businessmen, the Chinese Communist Party now allows members working in Taiwanese companies to organize communist cells within these companies. The point is obviously to surround Taiwanese businessmen and then gradually erode their national identity.

Zhang said during the Dec. 26 press conference that the goal of organizing Chinese Communist Party cells is "to strengthen business development." Zhang's comment probably made Karl Marx roll over in his grave.

Not even children of Taiwanese businessmen in China can escape Beijing's claws. Beijing insisted on imposing a very strict censorship on the contents of text books used by schools for children of Taiwanese businessmen in China.

The idea is to brainwash these children before they can even think on their own. Surely no one can forget the enormous success Beijing had by indoctrinating children into the "Red Guards" who stoned and cursed their parents.

The blueprint for China's strategy toward Taiwan in this upcoming year is out. While fewer verbal threats are expected, the new strategy is much more potent, as a lot of people are likely to fall for it. What can Taiwan possibly do in response? This is an urgent issue for Taiwan's government.
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