US & China Compete in Loving Taiwan; Yet the DPP Still Shouts Slogans of “Fight & Kill”

 US & China Compete in Loving Taiwan; Yet the DPP Still Shouts Slogans of “Fight & Kill”

China Times Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

November 5, 2019

 Translation of an Excerpt

The 4^th Plenum of the 19^th CPC Central Committee has just concluded, issuing a new direction in the CCP’s policy for Taiwan; subsequently, the Taiwan Affairs Office under the State Council, the Politburo Standing Committee member in charge of Development and Reform, and other departments promulgated “26 new measures” for Taiwan enterprises and Taiwan people. This is a comprehensive change in the strategy and tactics toward Taiwan on the part of the Mainland; it may be said that cross-Strait relations have entered a brand new situation.

Following the 4^th Plenum of the 19^th CPC Central Committee, the 26 new measures were made public on the day when the Cross-Strait Entrepreneur Summit raised its curtains, thus having very strong political significance and realistic tit for tat. The goals of "governance modernization" raised by the 4^th Plenary Session include cross-Strait relations and policies toward Taiwan; the “26 measures” are precisely the first complementary policies. And half of the "26 measures" are applicable to Taiwan enterprises. Wang Yang, chairman of the Mainland’s National Political Consultative Conference, on November 4^th asked four questions to Taiwan businessmen on the Mainland, saying that although the Mainland's environment for business operations was not as good as in the past, the vast market, hard-working labor, wholesomeness of industrial chains, and the efforts of the government, "Where else could you find these?" This shows that the Mainland will still strive to allow Taiwan businessmen to make big money, thus the business community ought to feel at ease.

At the basic strategic level, the "26 measures" demonstrate the road map of the statement that the Mainland persists in peaceful reunification, using exchanges and integration to improve cross-Strait relations, while "reunification by force" is not an option of Beijing’s policies, and this year prior to the general elections, it is unlikely to launch military exercises with a specific goal. Even if the DPP should win the general elections next January and the competition as well as confrontation in China-US relations should enhance, the Mainland’s Taiwan strategy still would not produce "subversive changes." Using the measures beneficial to Taiwan as the main axis and using anti-Taiwan independence military and diplomatic struggles as auxiliary warfare of “combining soft and hard” tactics should remain the main melody for some time to come.

Examining the recent US measures for Taiwan, whether the "TAIPEI Act" is a prelude to a US-Taiwan FTA, or whether Taiwan and the United States conclude more investment agreements, they all reveal a sense of "being beneficial to Taiwan." Now, the Mainland and the United States are "competing in loving Taiwan", against the background that Taiwan-US economic relations are becoming closer, the “26 measures” are apparently meant to underscore the Taiwan-Mainland economic bonding. 

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