China sharpens its language on Taiwan as part of ‘longer-term’ strategy | Taiwan

In recent weeks, China has released a series of statements, articles and photographs that analysts say indicate an increased approach by the ruling Chinese Communist Party to Taiwan.

Beijing claims Taiwan as a province and has vowed to annex it as part of what it calls “reunification.” The Chinese army is not believed to be able to carry out a full invasion yet, but senior officials have begun to use sharper language recently.

A series of “explanatory” articles published in state media in October outlined how Taiwan would be governed under Chinese rule: by pro-China “patriots” vetted in a “one country, two systems” regime similar to that established in Hong Kong and Macau. Such a proposal has long been rejected by Taiwan, especially after Hong Kong crushed the “high degree of autonomy” promised by the regime.

In the articles, Tsai Ming-yen, head of Taiwan’s National Security Bureau, said, “The aim is to belittle Taiwan’s international standing and Hong Kong and Macau to achieve the political goal of eliminating Taiwan’s international standing and Taiwan’s sovereignty.”

The articles promised peace and economic prosperity, but also warned: “After reunification, the risks of war caused by ‘Taiwan independence’ separatists will be eliminated and foreign interventions will be prevented.”

Beijing has recently added the designation of a new national holiday in China to several historical revisions designed to strengthen its claim over Taiwan. Decline day, October 25, is celebrated in Taiwan to mark the end of Japanese colonial rule, but Beijing has recast it as the day when Taiwan returns to China, specifically China now ruled by the CCP.

Beijing has also become stricter about allowing other countries to think about Taiwan. After Germany’s foreign minister said his country’s long-standing position was against “drastic change” in the status quo preserving the tenuous peace in the Taiwan Strait, China’s foreign ministry accused them of essentially supporting separatism.

“Those who want nothing more than changing the status quo in the Taiwan Strait and do not oppose ‘Taiwan independence’ are actually aiding and abetting ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist activities,” foreign ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun said.

Bonnie Glaser, managing director of the Indo-Pacific program of the US-based German Marshall Fund, said she had never heard this language from Chinese officials before and that it marked a significant change.

“All of these moves, including activities around ‘Taiwan Return’ Day, indicate that Beijing is pushing more aggressively for progress toward reunification,” Glaser said.

In late October, the Chinese government and social media published a series of satellite images taken by China’s Jilin-2 satellite of some of Taiwan’s most famous tourist spots (the Alishan Mountain Range, Sun Moon Lake) and economic hubs such as the capital Taipei and Hsinchu Science Park.

Ultra high resolution images with subtitles “Across the Bosphorus, under one sky”. The Chinese embassy in the USA posted them on the Internet with the words: “Taiwan is an inalienable part of Chinese territory.”

The statement said, “Under the perspective of the Jilin-1 space satellite, every square centimeter of China’s Taiwan province is alive.”

Analysts say the message is clear: Beijing can see “every inch” of Taiwan whenever it wants.

In Taiwan, people and authorities described the photos as voyeurism.

Wang Ting-yu, a Taiwanese lawmaker from the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, told local media: “If the point China is trying to make with these satellite photos is that it owns everything it photographs, then this is definitely an immature thing.”

Chinese officials tried to evade this description. “It is normal for Chinese satellites to look at the magnificent mountains and rivers in China’s Taiwan. There is nothing surprising in this,” said Zhang Xiaogang, spokesman for China’s Ministry of National Defense (MND).

Raymond Kuo, director of the Rand Corporation’s Taiwan Policy Initiative, said increased activity is perhaps now more evident after a period in which China presented itself as a stable global neighbor to counter volatility brought about by the United States and others. But there was also potentially a strategy behind this.

Donald Trump is expected to meet Xi in Beijing in April, and those moves could help “lay the groundwork” for Xi to seek concessions from the United States on protecting Taiwan, Kuo said.

“Isolating Taiwan might make it easier for Xi to say, ‘No one is interested in Taiwan anyway,'” he said.

Song Bo, a fellow at Tsinghua University’s Center for International Security and Strategy (CISS), said it was part of a two- to three-year “long-term adjustment” in China’s Taiwan policy and the removal of self-imposed limits on how it governs and communicates with Taiwan.

“This is not about a sudden escalation of tensions; this is about China normalizing actions it once refrained from taking,” Song said.

Additional research by Lillian Yang