Although Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) did not mention Taiwan in his high-profile meeting with US President Donald Trump last week, Taiwan should keep its eyes peeled for a new wave of “united front” operations to co-opt pro-China forces to promote “peaceful unification” across the Taiwan Strait.
After the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) on Oct. 19 elected Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) as its new chairwoman, who has gone from once advocating independence to leaning toward China, Xi — the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) general secretary — sent his congratulations and expressed his expectation that the two parties would cooperate more to adhere to the so-called “1992 consensus.”
On Oct. 25, a date China distorts as a “commemoration of Taiwan’s retrocession,” Wang Huning (王滬寧), the CCP’s fourth-ranked leader and Beijing’s top official in charge of Taiwan policy, reiterated that China would communicate with Taiwan’s pro-China forces to promote “one country, two systems” and “peaceful unification.”
China’s state-run Xinhua news agency from Sunday to Tuesday last week published three opinion pieces calling “unification with China” the only solution for Taiwan and mapping out how “patriots could rule Taiwan after reunification” to guarantee “Taiwan’s existing social system and way of life would be respected.”
The Chinese authorities and their mouthpiece have intensified their “united front” tactics to incorporate pro-China politicians and parties in Taiwan to promote cross-strait unification under the veil of the “1992 consensus” and the “one China” ideology. Such work has increased since the KMT allied with the Taiwan People’s Party to gain a legislative majority and will continue to increase after Cheng’s win.
China surely has high expectations that the KMT would return to power under Cheng’s leadership and contribute to “peaceful unification.”
That would save China from needing to use force, likely with catastrophic results, as Trump has said that Beijing would not take military action against Taiwan during his presidency because “the Chinese leaders know the consequences.”
China’s “one country, two systems” has proved a failure in Hong Kong. Its promise of autonomy has been replaced with a “patriots-only” rule system — meaning only people deemed loyal to the CCP can hold public office — and the 2020 National Security Law, ensuring Beijing’s control over the territory. The result is the rapid erosion of Hong Kong’s autonomy, democracy, freedom and human rights.
Meanwhile, polls consistently show that Taiwanese reject Beijing’s “one country, two systems” and “one China” principle.
However, Cheng and her team are apparently making efforts to meet China’s expectations. Aside from saying; “I am Chinese” and “I will make all Taiwanese proud to be Chinese,” Cheng said that Russian President Vladimir Putin is “not a dictator,” a specious argument widely seen as making excuses for a possible invasion of Taiwan ordered by Xi.
Velina Tchakarova, a Vienna-based geopolitical strategist, warned of a “cognitive shift within parts of Taiwan’s political spectrum that fits precisely into China’s ‘death by a thousand cuts’ approach toward Taiwan.”
Cheng has objected to defense budget increases and sent KMT Vice Chairman Hsiao Hsu-tsen (蕭旭成) to meet with the head of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office to set up a possible Cheng-Xi meeting. Hsiao told the Chinese side that the KMT firmly opposes Taiwanese independence and supports cross-strait unification.
China has found its “patriots” in Taiwan. Taiwanese must remain vigilant.
President William Lai (賴清德) attended a dinner held by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) when representatives from the group visited Taiwan in October. In a speech at the event, Lai highlighted similarities in the geopolitical challenges faced by Israel and Taiwan, saying that the two countries “stand on the front line against authoritarianism.” Lai noted how Taiwan had “immediately condemned” the Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas and had provided humanitarian aid. Lai was heavily criticized from some quarters for standing with AIPAC and Israel. On Nov. 4, the Taipei Times published an opinion article (“Speak out on the
Eighty-seven percent of Taiwan’s energy supply this year came from burning fossil fuels, with more than 47 percent of that from gas-fired power generation. The figures attracted international attention since they were in October published in a Reuters report, which highlighted the fragility and structural challenges of Taiwan’s energy sector, accumulated through long-standing policy choices. The nation’s overreliance on natural gas is proving unstable and inadequate. The rising use of natural gas does not project an image of a Taiwan committed to a green energy transition; rather, it seems that Taiwan is attempting to patch up structural gaps in lieu of
More than a week after Hondurans voted, the country still does not know who will be its next president. The Honduran National Electoral Council has not declared a winner, and the transmission of results has experienced repeated malfunctions that interrupted updates for almost 24 hours at times. The delay has become the second-longest post-electoral silence since the election of former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez of the National Party in 2017, which was tainted by accusations of fraud. Once again, this has raised concerns among observers, civil society groups and the international community. The preliminary results remain close, but both
News about expanding security cooperation between Israel and Taiwan, including the visits of Deputy Minister of National Defense Po Horng-huei (柏鴻輝) in September and Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Francois Wu (吳志中) this month, as well as growing ties in areas such as missile defense and cybersecurity, should not be viewed as isolated events. The emphasis on missile defense, including Taiwan’s newly introduced T-Dome project, is simply the most visible sign of a deeper trend that has been taking shape quietly over the past two to three years. Taipei is seeking to expand security and defense cooperation with Israel, something officials
RSS