Tue, Mar 03, 2026 page2

• Beijing’s plan indicates its Taiwan policy, expert says

  • By Chen Yu-fu and William Hetherington / Staff reporter, with staff writer
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  The Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) Taiwan policy is expected to become more “standardized,” an academic said yesterday.

  The CCP is set to convene the fourth session of the 14th National People’s Congress (NPC) on Thursday, during which it is expected to review its latest five-year plan, outlining China’s economic and industrial development priorities for the next five years.

  A key component of the plan is the so-called advancement of “cross-strait integrated development,” former Tunghai University Cross-Strait Research Center deputy executive director Hung Pu-chao (洪浦釗) said, adding that Beijing aims to pursue “institutionalized united front work.”

  

  People’s Republic of China flags flutter outside the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on March 8 last year.

  Photo: Reuters

  “This five-year plan should not be seen merely as an economic blueprint,” he said. “Judging from its text and policy structure, it represents a governance model premised on long-term confrontation.”

  The plan emphasizes the coordination of development and security, bottom-line thinking, and the prospect of “high winds, choppy waters and even stormy seas,” reflecting China’s assessment that risks of conflict and pressures of supply-chain restrictions could become the norm, he said.

  “The focus for the CCP over the next five years would not be on growth rates alone, but on national resilience, to the extent that China can maintain self-reliance and control,” he said.

  Hung said that under this framework, China’s policy direction is clear: maintaining a firm grip on manufacturing, technology and supply chains, producing domestically wherever possible, and avoiding being “strangled” by external dependencies.

  Although the plan stresses “an effective market and capable government,” market operations are planned to operate within the framework of national security and political objectives, with security serving as the overarching principle of development planning.

  The plan calls for “high-quality advancement of cross-strait integrated development demonstration zones, strengthening industrial cooperation, promoting cross-strait economic collaboration, and creating better conditions for Taiwan compatriots to study, work and live in the mainland.”

  “The tone may appear moderate, but this is not merely the language of exchange — it is the language of governance,” Hung said. “Integration is not just about economic and trade exchanges; it is about gradually incorporating people, capital, and industries into China’s development and governance framework through institutional arrangements.”

  When employment, residence, social security and industrial resources are deeply linked to the Chinese system, political objectives can be advanced gradually through economic and daily-life integration, he said.

  “This is not mobilization-style united front work, but institutionalized united front work,” he added.

  Hung said that, over the next five years, China’s Taiwan policy is likely to increasingly include an emphasis on standards, procedures, qualifications and review mechanisms.

  Pressure would be applied not through rhetoric, but through institutions’ operations, he added.

  Taiwan cannot rely solely on political statements in response to that, he said, adding that it must safeguard its autonomy through its own institutions.

  As a demonstration of mature governance, Taipei should reduce dependence on a single market and increase risk transparency so that businesses and the public understand costs and political risks involved, he said.
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