US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan has angered Beijing as well as Chinese people around the world. In response, the People’s Liberation Army conducted live-fire drills in six specific locations around the island of Taiwan, and a new white paper on the Taiwan question, “The Taiwan Question and China’s Reunification in the New Era” , was issued by the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council and the State Council Information Office on Aug 10.
History always unfolds in unexpected ways. Pelosi’s Taiwan trip is intended to egg on the separatists on the island to go further down their path of secessionism. Yet in a sense, it has helped accelerate the process of China’s complete reunification, which has never been so urgent before.
The issuance of the new white paper and the PLA’s largest-ever live-fire drills around Taiwan Island are widely seen as a reminder to the separatists and their foreign patrons that there is a clear red line. The Chinese government’s stance on the Taiwan question is crystal clear and has remained consistent over the past decades. It will strive for peaceful reunification but will not rule out reunification by force.
The new white paper is the third on the Taiwan question, after the previous ones in 1993 and 2000. It demonstrates the resolve of the Communist Party of China and the Chinese government to achieve the nation’s complete reunification, saying “the fact that we have not yet been reunified is a scar left by history on the Chinese nation”. The document further elaborates on China’s basic policy on the Taiwan question and lays out the blueprint for its reunification process.
The white paper points out that reunification is a shared responsibility for all Chinese people, including Taiwan compatriots, declaring that any attempt to separate Taiwan from China is a serious crime of secession.
The Democratic Progressive Party authorities under the leadership of Tsai Ing-wen have spared no effort in employing various ploys to promote “Taiwan independence” over the past decade. Beijing’s responses have been broadly restrained. It keeps on demonstrating goodwill by rolling out numerous measures benefiting Taiwan’s economy, businesses and individual residents.
In the past decade, there has been no lack of criticism by mainland residents who prefer a more hard-line approach toward the separatists in Taiwan. It seems that the more economic benefits the mainland offers Taiwan, the more determined the DPP authorities are to walk further down their separatist path, judging by their stepped-up efforts in pursuing so-called “de jure independence” over recent years, including their maneuvers facilitating Pelosi’s Taiwan trip. Some people have argued that meting out punishment, rather than engagement, should be the key strategy toward those secessionists in Taiwan.
It is particularly disappointing that the leader of the Kuomintang, which is supposedly against “Taiwan independence”, said that Pelosi’s visit was a “welcome move”. The KMT should seriously review its history of governing Taiwan in the past three decades. It was clear that Taiwan achieved much stability and prosperity when the KMT authorities adopted a friendly attitude toward the mainland. The 1992 Consensu s had remained the largest common denominator of both sides of the Straits and a guarantee for peace during the KMT’s reign. What has happened in Taiwan since then? Obviously, it is the DPP authorities’ relentless attempt to change the Taiwan Straits status quo, egged on by the US-led external forces, that has caused the current strained relations between the two sides.
It is unwise for the DPP authorities to leverage external forces and walk further down their path of secession, which is a hopeless endeavor. And it is evil for the US to interfere in other countries’ internal affairs. Under the guise of democracy, humanitarianism, or anti-terrorism, wars and conflicts initiated by the US in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Syria have caused tremendous human losses, economic collapse and painful suffering to local people and jeopardized global security and stability.
Chinese people are peace-loving, and China has not engaged in any war for decades. The reunification with Taiwan by force would definitely be the last resort if push were to come to shove. But Beijing’s restraint and tolerance should not be misinterpreted. Hong Kong and Macao returned to the motherland in 1997 and 1999 respectively. The nation’s complete reunification is key to the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, and no State leader would allow Taiwan to be separated from China.
Henry Ho Kin-chung is founder and chairman of the One Country Two Systems Youth Forum.
Edmond Sy Hon-ming is vice-chairman of the Hong Kong CPPCC Youth Association.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily