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.
ANOTHER EMERGES: The CWA yesterday said this year’s fourth storm of the typhoon season had formed in the South China Sea, but was not expected to affect Taiwan Tropical Storm Gaemi has intensified slightly as it heads toward Taiwan, where it is expected to affect the country in the coming days, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. As of 8am yesterday, the 120km-radius storm was 800km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving at 9kph northwest, the agency said. A sea warning for Gaemi could be issued tonight at the earliest, it said, adding that the storm is projected to be closest to Taiwan on Wednesday or Thursday. Gaemi’s potential effect on Taiwan remains unclear, as that would depend on its direction, radius and intensity, forecasters said. Former Weather Forecast
As COVID-19 cases in Japan have been increasing for 10 consecutive weeks, people should get vaccinated before visiting the nation, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) said. The centers reported 773 hospitalizations and 124 deaths related to COVID-19 in Taiwan last week. CDC Epidemic Intelligence Center Director Guo Hung-wei (郭宏偉) on Tuesday said the number of weekly COVID-19 cases reported in Japan has been increasing since mid-May and surpassed 55,000 cases from July 8 to July 14. The average number of COVID-19 patients at Japan’s healthcare facilities that week was also 1.39 times that of the week before and KP.3 is the dominant
The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) working group for Taiwan-related policies is likely to be upgraded to a committee-level body, a report commissioned by the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said. As Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is increasingly likely to upgrade the CCP’s Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Taiwanese authorities should prepare by researching Xi and the CCP, the report said. At the third plenary session of the 20th Central Committee of the CCP, which ended on Thursday last week, the party set a target of 2029 for the completion of some tasks, meaning that Xi is likely preparing to
US-CHINA TRADE DISPUTE: Despite Beijing’s offer of preferential treatment, the lure of China has dimmed as Taiwanese and international investors move out Japan and the US have become the favored destinations for Taiwanese graduates as China’s attraction has waned over the years, the Ministry of Labor said. According to the ministry’s latest income and employment advisory published this month, 3,215 Taiwanese university graduates from the class of 2020 went to Japan, surpassing for the first time the 2,881 graduates who went to China. A total of 2,300 graduates from the class of 2021 went to the US, compared with the 2,262 who went to China, the document showed. The trend continued for the class of 2023, of whom 1,460 went to Japan, 1,334 went to