Taiwan Must Pragmatically Face Xi Jinping’s Will

  Taiwan Must Pragmatically Face Xi Jinping’s Will

China Times Editorial (Taipei, Taiwan)

February 28, 2018

 Translation of an Excerpt

The Mainland made public the draft amendment to its Constitution, deciding to delete the term limit for state president, and to write Xi Jinping thought into the Constitution. It may be inferred that in a rather long period of time in the future, the Mainland will continue, under the leadership of Xi Jinping, to march on the road of socialism with Chinese characteristics in a new era.

For many years, when observing Mainland political situations, Taiwan society, either following the old pattern of perception in the Jiang Zemin and Hu Jintao eras, or marching from its own angles and interests, always analyses the Mainland's anti-corruption struggle, military reforms and economic/financial reforms, simply in terms of power-struggle logic, not knowing that in the process, the Mainland has quietly realized an earth-shaking sea change. Xi Jinping's power has also been fully consolidated; the political turmoil on the Mainland expected by the outside world, as well as the possible compromise to Taiwan as a result of this, even moving toward Western democracy, all these proved that it didn’t happen in the end. 

Since Xi Jinping came to office, he has always emphasized insisting on the leadership of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), and this has been now affirmed on the constitutional level. Article 1 of the amended Constitution reads: "the leadership of the CCP is the most essential feature of socialism with Chinese characteristics," changing the past approach of the Constitution, making such a statement in the preamble so as to become a formal constitutional provision.

This change has elicited an enthusiastic internal debate in the Mainland, but the Mainland society has not shaken its confidence as a result. The Mainland’s stock markets have maintained an upsurge across the board since their opening this week, especially industrial stocks have all had optimistic performances. This also signifies that the various sectors of the Mainland are not pessimistic towards future developments.

What cannot be neglected is that Mainland has clearly exhibited its determination to realize the renaissance of the Chinese nation; the preamble of the constitutional amendment clear-cutly reads "building our country as a modernized socialist power which is democratic, civilized, harmonious and beautiful, realizing the great renaissance of the Chinese nation." In other words, Xi Jinping has the determination to complete, under his leadership, the mission of a prosperous and powerful nation as well as national reunification. For Taiwan, this also means that reunification will not be avoidable; Taiwan must make a choice as to how it should face this situation.

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