Beijing will continue its efforts to entice young Taiwanese after the 19th National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), Taiwanese academics studying cross-strait relations said yesterday.
As the congress’ Oct. 18 opening day approaches, Taiwanese government officials and academics are wondering whether Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) will rethink his Taiwan strategy.
China will be “directly targeting young Taiwanese as well as the general public,” said Wang Hsin-hsien (王信賢), an associate professor at National Chengchi University’s Graduate Institute of East Asian Studies.
Xi knows that the disapproval of young Taiwanese is the biggest obstacle to unification, which is why his government has attempted to gain their support by facilitating visits to China and lowering the test scores for enrolling in Chinese universities, said Wang, who served as an adviser to the Mainland Affairs Council.
China has been trying to entice young Taiwanese directly, rather than through the Democratic Progressive Party government, after the Beijing-friendly Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) lost last year’s elections, Wang said.
However, as Xi favors a “carrot and stick” approach to Taiwan, discontent has been growing in China about his dealings with Taiwan, he added.
Following the deaths of Chinese tourists in a tour bus fire in Taiwan last year, for which the Chinese public partly blames the Taiwanese government, a majority of Chinese are now in favor of a military approach to deal with Taiwan, Wang said.
However, Xi wants to adopt the most cost-effective way to resolve the Taiwan issue and a military approach is not it, he added.
Giving benefits to Taiwanese has not really helped China, Wang added.
Furthermore, as former Straits Exchange Foundation chairman Hung Chi-chang (洪奇昌) has said, Taiwanese society is still struggling to reconcile different factions within the nation following the 228 Incident that took place more than 70 years ago, Wang said.
This has shown Beijing that a military approach, even if successful, would have costly consequences, which is why Xi is prioritizing the development of China’s economy, military and rule of law ahead of unification, he added.
As Beijing reiterates its opposition to Taiwanese independence, it will continue with its soft approach to Taiwan, coupled with a few instances of a harder approach, such as the detention of Taiwanese human rights advocate Lee Ming-che (李明哲), to condition Taiwanese, Wang said.
Andy Chang (張五岳), a professor at the Graduate Institute of China Studies at Tamkang University, suggested that the government try to improve communication between Taiwanese and Chinese.
Although leaders on both sides might differ on politics, they should not do or say anything that might lead to a standoff or induce hatred across the Strait, Chang said.
In terms of official communication between governments, the government should refrain from holding talks regarding the political definition of Taiwan, but should use the words and phrases Xi has used in addressing Taiwan as a way of extending an olive branch, Wang said.
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