This article was originally published by Radio Free Asia and is reprinted with permission.
The Taiwanese government has condemned Beijing’s “old mindset” after the Communist Party of China (CPC) passed a constitutional amendment vowing its goal of “fully, faithfully, and resolutely implementing the policy of One Country, Two Systems.”
The Party Constitution is the CPC’s charter – the most important document by which all 96 million members must abide.
Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council (MAC), the governmental administrative agency responsible for cross-Strait relations, said in a statement that the CPC’s new leadership “should break from the mindset of confronting or even invading Taiwan and resolve its differences with Taiwan in a peaceful, equitable and realistic manner.”
“Maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait is the shared responsibility of both sides of the strait,” the MAC said in the statement quoted by the official Central News Agency (CNA).
The CPC adopted several revisions of its Party Constitution at the closing ceremony of the 20th National Congress on Saturday to reflect Xi Jinping’s “new ideas, new thinking, and new strategies,” according to the Resolution on Party Constitution amendment.
Amongst new strategies on national defense and the armed forces put forward by “Comrade Xi Jinping,” the Taiwan issue is being featured prominently as the CPC pledges to build “a strong military with Chinese characteristics, making sustained and steady progress with the One Country, Two Systems policy, advancing national reunification…”
Hard line on Taiwan
The Communist Party’s revised Constitution, which came into immediate effect, includes statements on elevating the armed forces to world-class standards and “resolutely opposing and deterring separatists seeking ‘Taiwan independence’.”
The new language is seen as a step up in aggression from the previous amendment to the CPC’s Party Constitution, adopted at the 19th National Congress in 2017, which only pledged to strengthen the unity among all nationals, including people in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan and overseas and “to facilitate the national unification.”
It confirms President Xi Jinping’s hard line policy on Taiwan, which Beijing considers one of China’s provinces that should be “reunified” with the mainland.
In his opening speech at the twice-in-a-decade Congress, held in Beijing from Oct. 16 to Oct. 22, Xi said the CPC will “unswervingly advance the cause of national reunification.”
Xi outlined the official policy towards Taiwan that includes a firm warning on the use of force “directed solely at interference by outside forces and the few separatists seeking ‘Taiwan independence’ and their separatist activities.”
Last week, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said he believed that there had been “a change in approach” by Beijing in relation to Taiwan and “Beijing was determined to pursue reunification on a much faster timeline” than previously thought.
U.S. chief of naval operations Adm. Mike Gilday meanwhile said he couldn’t rule out that China may make a move on Taiwan this year or the next.
