China’s “patriots” model is what Beijing used in Hong Kong and Macau, and has no market in Taiwan, National Security Bureau (NSB) Director-General Tsai Ming-yen (蔡明彥) said yesterday, in response to stronger rhetoric from Beijing ahead of a meeting between US President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平).
China’s Taiwan Affairs Office spokesperson Peng Qingen (彭慶恩) told a regular news conference in Beijing earlier yesterday that peaceful “reunification” under the “one country, two systems” model is the fundamental approach to “resolving the Taiwan issue.”
“We are willing to create ample space for peaceful reunification and will spare no effort to pursue this prospect with the utmost sincerity,” he said. “However, we absolutely will not renounce the use of force and reserve the option to take all necessary measures.”
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The comment struck a tougher tone than a series of articles in state media this week that pledged benign rule.
China has never renounced the use of force to “reunify” with Taiwan, but the policy is not often directly voiced in public and did not appear in three Xinhua news agency commentaries this week about Taiwan.
One of the commentaries mapped out how “patriots” could rule Taiwan after “reunification,” and promised its existing social system and way of life would be respected.
Beijing’s top official in charge of Taiwan policy, the Chinese Communist Party’s fourth-ranked leader Wang Huning (王滬寧), did not mention force in a key policy speech on Saturday, which instead focused on how both sides would benefit from “reunification.”
In Taipei, Tsai said that Beijing has “no way to enact the application of the Macau or Hong Kong model in Taiwan.”
“The aim is to belittle Taiwan’s international standing, and Hong Kong-ify and Macau-ify Taiwan, to achieve the political objective of eliminating Taiwan’s sovereignty, which the Chinese Communist Party seeks to do,” Tsai said.
In 2021, Hong Kong, which returned to Chinese rule from the UK in 1997, held its first “patriots-only” election with candidates vetted as loyal to Beijing. Turnout hit a record low.
Taiwan held its first direct presidential election in 1996, and democracy is a noisy and vibrant affair where candidates are free to espouse any point of view — be it pro-independence or pro-Beijing.
China’s government refuses to talk to President William Lai (賴清德), saying he is a “separatist.”
The Taiwanese government rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims.
China’s renewed push for an autonomy model for Taiwan — which no major Taiwanese political party supports and the government in Taipei has repeatedly denounced — comes ahead of a meeting between Trump and Xi today.
Trump told reporters yesterday that he did not know whether he would even discuss Taiwan with Xi.
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