When it comes to “one country, two systems,” most people might think that it is exclusively for China’s special administrative regions such as Hong Kong and Macau, but the policy was initiated in the 1980s under Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平), and it was originally designed for Taiwan.
Leaders of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) have regarded the Taiwan issue as a core Chinese interest, and almost every leader has had their own ideas and statements about Taiwan.
During Mao Zedong’s (毛澤東) rule, the strategy was to use the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to “liberate” Taiwan. Therefore, frequent military conflicts occurred in the Taiwan Strait from the 1940s to the 1960s, such as the Battle of Guningtou and the 823 Kinmen Artillery Battle.
However, the day right after the latter battle, the PRC released its “Message to Compatriots in Taiwan,” which basically requested that Taiwan join the fight against “American imperialism.” The statement indicated that Mao’s policy toward Taiwan had changed.
In the Deng era, the situation underwent a qualitative change.
Deng introduced “one country, two systems” along the basis of the “One Program and Four Compendiums” of former Chinese premier Zhou Enlai (周恩來).
From “liberating” Taiwan to peaceful unification, the policy for Taiwan has changed significantly from Mao until now.
Former Chinese president Jiang Zemin (江澤民), the PRC’s fourth leader, made his “Eight Points” the main theme of his plan for Taiwan. The idea was to “keep fighting for the unification of the country” in the 1990s, emphasizing that under Beijing’s “one China” principle, all issues could be discussed.
His successor, Hu Jintao (胡錦濤), also had his own argument, “Hu’s Six Points,” which emphasized political mutual trust.
Along with the “one China” principle, another highlight was formally ending the state of hostility between the two sides, aiming to reach a peaceful agreement and build a framework for the peaceful development of cross-strait relations.
Hu was renowned as the most “friendly” PRC leader regarding Taiwan policy, but the cornerstone remained “one country, two systems.”
Then there is Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平). In January, he said that “peaceful unification and ‘one country, two systems’ are the best ways to achieve national unification” in a ceremony commemorating the 40th anniversary of the “Message to Taiwan Compatriots.”
In short, it is still “one country, two systems,” but with insincere hypocrisy.
The “one country, two systems” policy has been implemented in Hong Kong for 22 years, but still is not a fit. The protests have lasted for three months; people are striving for their basic rights. The main of the five major requests by Hong Kong protesters is to practice “true universal suffrage.”
The original purpose of the Sino-British Joint Declaration was to maintain a capitalist system and lifestyle in Hong Kong. The second article of the Basic Law of Hong Kong also specifies that people in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region should enjoy a high degree of autonomy, administration, legislation, justice and final adjudication, but all these rights are fading away.
Less than halfway into the 50 years that Hong Kong was to remain semi-autonomous, the “one country, two systems” model is regarded as a “myth” by the PRC, and is collapsing day by day.
Certainly, there is no perfect system for Hong Kong at this point. However, when the PRC runs its “one country, two systems” propaganda, its ignorance and arrogance are the most objectionable and unacceptable attitude to people in Hong Kong and Taiwan.
The situation and condition in Taiwan are more complex than in Hong Kong. People do not know why the PRC is so confident and insist that “one country, two systems” is the best solution for Taiwan.
The 70th anniversary of the foundation of the PRC would have been the best timing for Beijing to sell “one country, two systems,” but ironically, the protests in Hong Kong are continuing. Let us see how the PRC now plans to sell its “beautiful” “one country, two systems” model.
Pan Jia-hong is a postgraduate student researching Chinese Communist Party history and Chinese People’s Liberation Army military development.
What began on Feb. 28 as a military campaign against Iran quickly became the largest energy-supply disruption in modern times. Unlike the oil crises of the 1970s, which stemmed from producer-led embargoes, US President Donald Trump is the first leader in modern history to trigger a cascading global energy crisis through direct military action. In the process, Trump has also laid bare Taiwan’s strategic and economic fragilities, offering Beijing a real-time tutorial in how to exploit them. Repairing the damage to Persian Gulf oil and gas infrastructure could take years, suggesting that elevated energy prices are likely to persist. But the most
In late January, Taiwan’s first indigenous submarine, the Hai Kun (海鯤, or Narwhal), completed its first submerged dive, reaching a depth of roughly 50m during trials in the waters off Kaohsiung. By March, it had managed a fifth dive, still well short of the deep-water and endurance tests required before the navy could accept the vessel. The original delivery deadline of November last year passed months ago. CSBC Corp, Taiwan, the lead contractor, now targets June and the Ministry of National Defense is levying daily penalties for every day the submarine remains unfinished. The Hai Kun was supposed to be
The Legislative Yuan on Friday held another cross-party caucus negotiation on a special act for bolstering national defense that the Executive Yuan had proposed last year. The party caucuses failed to reach a consensus on several key provisions, so the next session is scheduled for today, where many believe substantial progress would finally be made. The plan for an eight-year NT$1.25 trillion (US$39.59 billion) special defense budget was first proposed by the Cabinet in November last year, but the opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) lawmakers have continuously blocked it from being listed on the agenda for
On Tuesday last week, the Presidential Office announced, less than 24 hours before he was scheduled to depart, that President William Lai’s (賴清德) planned official trip to Eswatini, Taiwan’s sole diplomatic ally in Africa, had been delayed. It said that the three island nations of Seychelles, Mauritius and Madagascar had, without prior notice, revoked the charter plane’s overflight permits following “intense pressure” from China. Lai, in his capacity as the Republic of China’s (ROC) president, was to attend the 40th anniversary of King Mswati III’s accession. King Mswati visited Taiwan to attend Lai’s inauguration in 2024. This is the first
RSS