Magda Lipan*

On Wednesday, Aug 10, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) released its first “White Paper on the Taiwan issue” since Xi Jinping came to power, reiterating that it would use force against Taiwan to reunification of Island into mainland and removed various previous promises such as allowing Taiwan autonomy made in the first White Paper released in 1993 and the second White Paper brought out in  the year 2000.

The third White Paper on Taiwan was published to coincide with the end of the military exercise in Taiwan Straits in and around Taiwan. Its contents are explosive in nature. Wordings such as “New Era” is a political term associated with Xi Jinping’s personal rule, symbolizing the so-called “Xi era”, and some important contents are different from the previous ones.

One of the most striking changes is that in the previous White Papers it was promised that “the central government will not send troops and administrative personnel to Taiwan.” But in the latest version that signature promise to ensure Taiwan’s high degree of autonomy has disappeared entirely.

New White Paper claimed at the outset that the CCP “strives for peaceful reunification with the greatest sincerity and efforts”, but immediately declared that non-peaceful means will be the last choice under last resort”. It also threatened to “not promise to renounce the use of force”.

Not only that, in the 2000 White Paper on the Taiwan issue, the CCP promised that as long as the governments on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are within the framework of “one China”, any issue can be discussed. Now that promise is not there anywhere in the latest white paper; it has simply vanished.

These two significant changes make it amply clear that the Beijing has given up hope of “harmonious re-unification” and has turned wholeheartedly to the so-called “armed re-unification”.  Two years ago, the phrase “as long as Taiwan recognizes that there is only one China and does not seek independence, anything can be negotiated” appeared. It is also missing today.

The new version of the White Paper deletes the statement that any issue can be discussed within the framework of “One China”. This clearly means a declaration that there is no need to talk about it now, because the CCP no longer expects Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) -led Tsai Ing-wen government to recognize ‘One China’.

The third striking focus is the first explicit and public threat to Tsai Ing-wen’s government in the White Paper. The original words are as follows: “The DPP authorities’ attempts to seek ‘independence’ have led to tensions across the Taiwan Strait, endangered the peace and stability of the Taiwan Strait, undermined the prospects for peaceful reunification, and squeezed the space for peaceful reunification. These are obstacles that must be removed in the process of peaceful reunification. “

The new version issued by the Taiwan Affairs Office of the Communist Party of China has threatened to eliminate Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP). This is tantamount to unabashedly announcing that in the future, all those who voted for the DPP and those who do not obey the CCP’s rule will be punished. In the name of “Taiwan independence elements” or “separatists”, they were all put into re-education camps to implement Xinjiang-style management.

In the past few days when the China was busy conducting military exercises around Taiwan, people found that many map apps on the mainland have changed the name of the Taiwan region of China to Taiwan Province of China. Not only that but also in many online news reports, Taiwan region is directly referred to as Taiwan Province, typical CCP’s bullying tactics.

Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) has condemned the White Paper -2022, calling it “full of wishful thinking and disregarding the facts.” It said, “such crude and clumsy political manipulation further highlights Beijing’s arrogant thinking pattern of trying to use force to invade and destroy peace in the Taiwan Straits and across the region. It also confirms the CCP’s long-term failure and rigid limitations in its work on Taiwan.”

” Only 23 million people in Taiwan have the right to decide the future of Taiwan”, MAC asserted and firmly stated, “We will never accept the cross-strait finality set by the authoritarian regime. ” (Courtesy: Poreg)

 —-*The writer, a Boston-based consultant is a regular Poreg contributor