Xi sees laying foundation for unifying with Taiwan as his legacy: Expert
ROC Central News Agency
10/22/2022 08:30 PM
Taipei, Oct. 22 (CNA) Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) will look to lay a foundation to seize Taiwan as his political legacy if Taiwan unification is not achieved during the next 5-10 years of his extended tenure, a local expert said Saturday.
Chinese Communist Party's (CCP) 20th National Congress closed Saturday after it endorsed the amendments to the party's Constitution, including vows to build a state-of-the-art army to enforce the "one country, two systems" platform and to "strongly and firmly oppose and contain Taiwan independence."
"One country, two systems" is the arrangement implemented in Hong Kong and Macau which allows the two special administrative regions to function with some autonomy from Beijing.
Xi is set to secure an unprecedented third term as the CCP's general secretary and chairman of the CCP's Central Military Commission, China's de facto military commander-in-chief, Sunday when the CCP unveils its new leadership for the next five years until 2027.
Analyzing the CCP's quinquennial event, Chao Chun-shan (趙春山), a China expert, said Beijing offered a more bleak outlook on cross-Taiwan Strait relations this year than the last congress in 2017 when it sounded more hopeful about the prospects of the relationship.
It remains unclear whether Xi plans to continue his reign for five years or 10 years, but he is certainly aiming to "accomplish some achievements" on the Taiwan issue as his legacy, said Chao, a professor emeritus at the Graduate Institute of China Studies at Tamkang University.
Taiwan unification is considered by Xi as an integral part of his "Chinese dream" of "great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation" and he will seek a fourth term to give him more time to achieve that goal if necessary, Chao said.
In the first few years of Xi's third term, he might adopt a "wait-and-see" policy towards Taiwan until a new leadership is elected in Taiwan and in the U.S. in 2024, after which he is expected to work on "laying the foundations for Taiwan unification," he said.
If Xi, who is now 69 years old, is to stay in power for 10 more years, he would consider setting a framework for Taiwan unification before he hands over power to his successor, as in the case of Hong Kong, Chao said.
For example, Xi might coerce Taiwan into signing a peace agreement with China based on the premise of unification, he said.
The negotiations for Britain to hand over its control of Hong Kong to China began in 1982 when Deng Xiaoping (鄧小平) was in office, and the handover of Hong Kong took place in 1997 during Jiang Zemin's (江澤民) tenure, he added.
Taiwan must prepare itself to resist increasing coercion from China and the worse-case scenario that China might take Taiwan by force because maintaining the cross-strait status quo, favored by most people in Taiwan, is not one of Beijing's options, Chao claimed.
(By Lu Chia-jung and Shih Hsiu-chuan)
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