Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is making unification a more important component of his “China Dream,” despite Taipei’s pledges to maintain peace in the Taiwan Strait and to preserve the “status quo” in cross-strait relations, a US-based foreign and defense policy commentator said.
“Tensions are rising between Beijing and Taipei,” American Enterprise Institute foreign and defense policy studies research fellow Michael Mazza said in an article titled “Is a Storm Brewing in the Taiwan Strait?” published by the Council on Foreign Relations on Friday.
Mazza linked Beijing’s increasing pressure on Taiwan with Xi’s vision for the future of China, or “China Dream,” of which Xi has made unification an important component.
Xi “began talking about the ‘great renewal of the Chinese nation’ — which, for him, requires formal unification with Taiwan — during a speech he gave in 2012 as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party [CCP],” Mazza said.
Xi last year at the CCP’s 19th National Congress said that by mid-century, the party would “develop China into a great modern socialist country that is prosperous, strong, democratic, culturally advanced, harmonious and beautiful,” Mazza said.
“If Xi turns out to be unable to deliver on his promises of economic prosperity for all Chinese people, as may well be the case, the other components of the China Dream will become more important,” Mazza said, referring to the unification of China and Taiwan.
Taiwan has proven itself a responsible actor in East Asia and would seek to avert a potentially cataclysmic collision “as long as doing so does not require submitting to Beijing,” Mazza said.
However, whether Beijing will accept anything less than submission is not at all clear, he said.
“The Taiwan Strait is already known for its strong winds and choppy waters — but rougher seas lie ahead,” Mazza said.
Costa Rica sent a group of intelligence officials to Taiwan for a short-term training program, the first time the Central American country has done so since the countries ended official diplomatic relations in 2007, a Costa Rican media outlet reported last week. Five officials from the Costa Rican Directorate of Intelligence and Security last month spent 23 days in Taipei undergoing a series of training sessions focused on national security, La Nacion reported on Friday, quoting unnamed sources. The Costa Rican government has not confirmed the report. The Chinese embassy in Costa Rica protested the news, saying in a statement issued the same
Temperatures in New Taipei City’s Sindian District (新店) climbed past 37°C yesterday, as the Central Weather Administration (CWA) issued heat alerts for 16 municipalities, warning the public of intense heat expected across Taiwan. The hottest location in Taiwan was in Sindian, where the mercury reached 37.5°C at about 2pm, according to CWA data. Taipei’s Shilin District (士林) recorded a temperature of 37.4°C at noon, Taitung County’s Jinfeng Township (金峰) at 12:50 pm logged a temperature of 37.4°C and Miaoli County’s Toufen Township (頭份) reached 36.7°C at 11:40am, the CWA said. The weather agency yesterday issued a yellow level information notice for Taipei, New
Taiwan’s Liu Ming-i, right, who also goes by the name Ray Liu, poses with a Chinese Taipei flag after winning the gold medal in the men’s physique 170cm competition at the International Fitness and Bodybuilding Federation Asian Championship in Ajman, United Arab Emirates, yesterday.
A year-long renovation of Taipei’s Bangka Park (艋舺公園) began yesterday, as city workers fenced off the site and cleared out belongings left by homeless residents who had been living there. Despite protests from displaced residents, a city official defended the government’s relocation efforts, saying transitional housing has been offered. The renovation of the park in Taipei’s Wanhua District (萬華), near Longshan Temple (龍山寺), began at 9am yesterday, as about 20 homeless people packed their belongings and left after being asked to move by city personnel. Among them was a 90-year-old woman surnamed Wang (王), who last week said that she had no plans
RSS