A national security official yesterday said that whether Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) potential meeting with Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Chairwoman Cheng Li-wun (鄭麗文) represents goodwill from China or merely a “united front” strategy could be assessed using three key indicators.
Cheng on Monday said she has accepted an invitation from Xi to visit China from tomorrow to Sunday.
The first indicator is whether China would halt its military threats against Taiwan, said the official, who declined to be named.
Photo: Reuters and Taipei Times
Beijing’s military and “gray zone” activities stretch across the entire first island chain, from the Yellow Sea to the South China Sea, heightening regional tensions.
If the Xi-Cheng meeting leads China to stop its routine threats, it would signal that it was a gesture of genuine goodwill toward Taiwan, the official said.
Otherwise, the meeting would appear to be little more than another “united front” tactic, they added.
The second indicator is whether Beijing would ease its pressure on Taiwan’s international space, the official said.
The nation’s meaningful participation in global bodies — such as the WHO, the International Civil Aviation Organization and Interpol — directly affects public health, aviation safety and everyday well-being, they said.
If China truly cared about the welfare of Taiwanese, there would be no reason to continue blocking Taiwan from the international stage, they added.
The third indicator is “the release of religious figures arrested for actual missionary work,” they said.
Most Taiwanese are unaware that what Beijing calls “religious exchange” does not include missionary activities in China, the official said.
As a result, members of certain Christian groups and other religious organizations who have traveled to China to preach their faith have been detained by Chinese authorities, saying it is illegal, they said.
Only when China truly wants to have genuine religious exchanges with Taiwan — rather than using it as a tool for “united front” work — and shows real respect for religious freedom might Taiwanese place greater trust in Beijing, they added.
Other key measures to look out for include whether Beijing is willing to lift its “reciprocal” bans on Chinese tour groups, individual travelers and students traveling to Taiwan, and whether it stops blaming the ban on Taiwan’s decision to restrict travel to China, the official said
If, after the Xi-Cheng meeting, China fails to halt its military threats against Taiwan, continues to suppress the nation’s international space and shows no change in its “united front” efforts disguised as “exchanges,” it would be clear that the meeting was ultimately “a false play,” the core purpose of which was to mislead the international community, weaken US and global support for Taiwan, and create further division and unrest within the nation, they said.
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