It’s a flare-up that doesn’t seem to be going away and now Beijing has set out its plan to “unify” with this country, but there is strong resistance.
This is Taiwan’s “last madness” before “doomsday” threatens China’s Communist Party.
“The hope of a peaceful solution to the Taiwan question is declining sharply,” China’s state-controlled Global Times newspaper has announced.
Independence, Chairman Xi Jinping’s China asserts, is not an option.
President Tsai Ing-wen insists that Reunification isn’t possible as there was no unity in the first place.
Both sides have history. It’s just that they disagree on what that is. And that’s producing a never-ending chain of military and diplomatic escalation.
Chairman Xi last weekend addressed a function commemorating the 110th anniversary of the 1911 Revolution, which deposed the last emperor. He said Taiwan represented the “weakness and chaos of the Chinese nation”. He insisted “national rejuvenation” would become a reality.
“Those who forget their heritage, betray their motherland, and seek to split the country will come to no good end,” he threatened. “They will be disdained by the people and condemned by history.”
The latest flare-up in the cross-strait family dispute has seen a surge in the number of flights by Chinese fighter jets and nuclear-capable bombers into Taiwan’s air defence identification zone (ADIZ).
It’s about protecting Taiwan from itself, Beijing insists.
“As in history, the people on the island have failed to resist the foreign invasion, while the mainland had no strength to protect the island in the late Qing Dynasty. Without the strength and determination of the Chinese nation, the Taiwan question will not be resolved successfully,” a Global Times “anonymous expert” accused. “To eventually resolve the Taiwan question, the power and determination of the Chinese people, especially the military might of the mainland, are essential.”
Split visions
Chairman Xi insists the assimilation of Taiwan was necessary for the “rejuvenation” of the Chinese nation. The “unification” of the island democracy was all part of “the general trend of Chinese history” and “the common will of all Chinese people”.
At the weekend, he again outlined his plan to integrate Taiwan under a “one country, two systems” scheme. Though Hong Kong’s practical experience of that policy has been off-putting for Taipei.
That, President Tsai argues, is the problem. Beijing “offers neither a free and democratic way of life for Taiwan, nor sovereignty for our 23 million people,” she told a separate commemoration of the same 1911 Xinhai Revolution anniversary. It was when Taiwan’s founding Republic of China (ROC) overthrew the Qing Dynasty of emperors.
In 1949, the ROC government fled to the UN protectorate of Formosa (now Taiwan), occupied as part of Japan’s fallen empire. Mainland China fell to the Chinese Communist Party.
That’s why President Tsai must walk a fine line.
After her 2020 presidential win, Tsai declared: “We don’t have a need to declare ourselves an independent state. We are an independent country already.”
That wasn’t exactly true.
Taiwan may operate independently. But it’s not recognised internationally as a sovereign nation.
And Beijing begrudges any hint that Taipei’s behaving as such.
Now, that dispute is getting personal.
“The mainland has already issued a blacklist of Taiwan secessionists,” the Global Times quotes Xiamen University professor Li Fei as saying. “This proves that the mainland will separate the secessionists and other political groups and ordinary people on the island. And no matter what kind of solution, peaceful or not, those black-listed will be brought to justice.”
The Chinese Communist Party is refusing to accept dissent.
“When that time comes, Taiwan secessionists will end up miserable and face the judgment of justice,” Beijing based military analyst Wei Dongxu told the Global Times.
Taiwan, or not Taiwan?
Last Sunday, President Tsai called on the Taiwanese people to be “masters of our own destiny”.
It sounded too much like a call for independence to Beijing.
“The mainland’s warning against secessionism is not just talking the talk. Whether the solution will be peaceful or not, the secessionists will be judged, condemned and punished. This is not just a warning, but also a serious promise from the Communist Party of China (CPC) to the Chinese nation,” the Global Times quotes an “anonymous expert” on Taiwan affairs.
It was the exact response Tsai expected.
“The more we achieve, the greater the pressure we face from China,” she said. “So I want to remind all my fellow citizens that we do not have the privilege of letting down our guard.
“We hope for an easing of cross-strait relations and will not act rashly. But there should be absolutely no illusions that the Taiwanese people will bow to pressure. We will continue to bolster our national defence and demonstrate our determination to defend ourselves and ensure that nobody can force Taiwan to take the path China has laid out for us.”
Beijing won’t have a bar of it.
“All of these acts prove that the (Taiwanese) authority has no sincerity and intention to seek a peaceful solution with the mainland over the Taiwan question, and insists on secessionism,” the Global Times quoted former Taiwanese pro-Beijing KMT party politician Shao Zong-hai as saying. “So the mainland has to consider how to safeguard the national sovereignty of China and resolve the Taiwan question once and for all by force.”
Family feud
President Tsai at the weekend outlined her plan for the future.
“We call for maintaining the status quo, and we will do our utmost to prevent the status quo from being unilaterally altered,” she said.
The Chinese Communist Party reiterated its own.
“National reunification efforts by the Chinese mainland could be done peacefully, by force, or a mixture of both. The non-peaceful solution would include imposing a blockade, striking hostile targets on the island, attacking the peripheral islands, or landing on the island of Taiwan”, Xiamen University deputy dean Zhang Wensheng told the Global Times.
But recent polling shows the Taiwanese people are with Tsai.
They don’t want assimilation. Nor do they want immediate independence.
And any political party pushing too hard in either direction has historically been turfed out of office.
“In her six years in office, Tsai has neither backed nor proposed any policy or plan that would formally change Taiwan’s constitution or national status. Fears of her doing so are unfounded and play into Beijing’s propaganda,” argue Brian Hioe and Lev Nachman in The Diplomat.
“Despite Taiwan’s recent rise in international prominence and growing concerns over whether the DPP will make a unilateral move, we should not forget that Taiwan is a democracy with rules, institutions, and formalities. We should also remember that Taiwanese do not want immediate independence and value an uncomfortable peace over war.”
Jamie Seidel is a freelance writer | @JamieSeidel
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