China’s National Society of Taiwan Studies president Dai Bingguo (戴秉國), a former Chinese state councilor, last month gave a speech at the opening of a seminar on cross-strait relations organized by three Chinese Taiwan affairs institutions — the society, the All-China Federation of Taiwan Compatriots and the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences’ Institute of Taiwan Studies.
Dai said that since President Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) government took office last year, it has adopted a political-economic strategy leaning toward the US and Japan, and away from China, while also looking south.
He expressed the hope that Washington would focus on the overall situation and would not opportunistically play the “Taiwan card,” and warned the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) not to rely on foreign forces, because that could have “bitter consequences.”
Chinese threats against Taiwan are nothing new, but coming from Dai, they carry special significance. That is because he has traveled around the world to discuss Taiwan-related issues and has served as the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) secretary at the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs, vice minister of foreign affairs and state councilor.
Dai has also held key posts as director of the CCP Central Committee’s Office of Foreign Affairs, National Security Leading Group and Taiwan Affairs Leading Group.
In “A Special Mission,” the third chapter of the book Strategic Dialog: The Memoirs of Dai Bingguo, Dai wrote that after he returned to the foreign ministry as party secretary and deputy minister in March 2003, one of his priority tasks was to deter pro-Taiwan independence forces in the international community.
During the critical period in 2004 when then-president Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) tried to push through a referendum on a new constitution, then-Chinese president Hu Jintao (胡錦濤) sent Dai as a special envoy to the US, Germany, France, Russia and Japan, where he had 29 meetings between May 5 and May 18, hoping to convince the five nations to oppose such a referendum and Taiwanese independence, thus influencing other nations to do the same thing in other ways.
By doing so, Beijing was hoping to build an atmosphere favorable to the Chinese side in the international community.
Dai said that his visits were successful — with the exception of Japan, which was more passive, although it stated clearly that it would not support Taiwanese independence.
The Chinese and the US sides both sensed the urgency and danger of the Taiwan issue following Dai’s visit, and they felt that Chen’s referendum bid would hurt US interests.
In November that year, Dai visited the US again to handle such issues as Washington’s approval of Chen’s and then-vice president Annette Lu’s (呂秀蓮) stopovers in the US the year before, its endorsement of Taiwan’s WHO bid and the continued push for US arms sales to Taiwan.
On Dec. 23, then-US deputy secretary of state Richard Armitage said that the US was not bound by the Taiwan Relations Act to defend Taiwan and the US arms sales to Taiwan did not move forward that year.
Germany publicly released a statement on Taiwan, insisting on a clear and definite “one China” policy while opposing any unilateral measures that would change the “status quo.” It also expressed hope that Taiwan would stop pushing for a constitutional referendum and that the issue would be resolved through peaceful means.
After Dai’s meeting with then-French president Jacques Chirac, France insisted that there was only “one China” in the world and that its opposition to a constitutional referendum would remain unchanged.
France even supported China’s “one country, two systems” proposal, calling for avoidance of any unilateral action that would cause tensions in the Taiwan Strait or worsen the overall situation.
Finally, the Russian envoy said that Taiwan’s push for a constitutional referendum was a provocation that created cross-strait tensions, calling it a wrong move.
Basically, Dai’s diplomatic career has been a reflection of Beijing’s handling of Taiwan affairs in the international domain over more than a decade. After he took over the presidency at the society in February, he proposed a “new task” for this think tank in response to the “new situation” in cross-strait relations, “hoping” and “demanding” that the organization pay further attention to external factors that might influence the Taiwan issue.
Dai’s speech at the seminar on cross-strait relations was a formal briefing to all of China’s Taiwan studies institutions, as he said that the “great power game” would become more poignant in cross-strait relations under Tsai and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平), which would lead to more intense international political and military competition.
Last month, Xinhua news agency told Chinese media to make certain terms disappear from their reports, including terms such as the Republic of China (ROC) and “one China, different interpretations.”
China’s attempt to make the ROC and Taiwan disappear from the world stage is a critical challenge to Taiwan, and a challenge that our government must tackle properly.
Hong Chi-chang is a former chairman of the Straits Exchange Foundation.
Translated by Eddy Chang
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