In their latest white paper on Taiwan, released on Wednesday (August 10), the Chinese authorities removed from previous white papers pledges that “Taiwan will exercise a high degree of autonomy after reunification, and the central government will not send troops and administrators to Taiwan,” suggesting that Xi Jinping’s decision to give Taiwan less autonomy once it is reunified.

The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) held a multi-day unprecedented menacing military exercise around Taiwan last week in protest against U.S. House Speaker Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. Subsequently, the Taiwan Affairs Office of the CPC Central Committee and the Information Office of the State Council issued a white paper on Wednesday entitled “The Taiwan Issue and the Cause of China’s Reunification in the New Era,” reiterating that they would not give up the use of force against Taiwan, threatening to get rid of the DPP authorities, and attacking the United States for plotting to use Taiwan to control China.

In its white papers on the Taiwan issue published in 1993 and 2000, the CCP promised that “the central government will not send troops and administrators to Taiwan.” Reuters reported that this commitment to ensure Taiwan’s high degree of autonomy disappeared in the latest white paper on Taiwan.

The Chinese Communist authorities have proposed the reunification of Taiwan with democratic autonomy in accordance with Hong Kong’s “one country, two systems” model, and to partially preserve Taiwan’s social and political system. Still, all of Taiwan’s mainstream political parties reject the “one country, two systems” model, which polls have shown over the years have shown little public support. Taiwan’s government insists that only Taiwan’s 23 million people can decide Taiwan’s future.

In addition, Reuters reported that the promise that as long as it is within the framework of “one China” in the 2000 white paper on Taiwan, any issue can be discussed has also disappeared from the latest white paper.

At the same time, the Mainland Affairs Council of the Taiwan Government issued a press release on Wednesday evening in response to the Chinese Communists’ latest white paper on the Taiwan issue, denouncing the white paper for wishful thinking and disregarding the facts.

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council said that under the coercion and oppression of Taiwan by force at all costs in recent days, the Chinese Communists have issued a so-called white paper on Taiwan, stating the old tone of promoting reunification that violates international law and cross-strait facts, and solemnly protests against this. The MAC press release said: The white paper is full of lies of “wishful thinking and disregard for the facts,” talks about the so-called development prospects after reunification, and blames the gross act of infringing on Taiwan’s sovereignty.

The MAC said that such crude and clumsy political operations by the Beijing authorities have further highlighted their arrogant thinking pattern of vainly attempting to invade and undermine peace in the Taiwan Strait and the region by force, and also confirm the limitations of the CPC’s long-term failure and rigid work on Taiwan.

The press release said: The MAC solemnly declares that Taiwan’s insistence on “non-subordination between the two sides of the strait” and its firm rejection of “one country, two systems” are the current situation and facts in the Taiwan Strait.

The MAC said that the old tones of this white paper, such as the so-called “overall strategy for Taiwan in the new era,” are just propaganda tricks that have always been used to explain internally before the 20th CPC National Congress. The mainstream public opinion in Taiwan has long firmly rejected “one country, two systems”, and only 23 million people in Taiwan have the right to decide the future of Taiwan, and they will never accept the cross-strait endgame set by the authoritarian regime.

The title of the latest version of the CCP’s white paper is “The Taiwan Issue and the Cause of China’s Reunification in the New Era,” and “new era” is clearly a word related to CCP leader Xi Jinping. Xi jinping expects to break the practice of holding only two terms of top leaders in recent decades at the 20th Party Congress this autumn and re-elect for a third term.###

—-VOA Report, Aug 11, 2022