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Opinion | Xi Jinping’s rhetoric on Taiwan may have been gentler, but his bag of carrots and sticks remains the same
Michal Thim says President Xi’s softer tone on Taiwan during his meeting with a senior Taiwanese politician does not indicate a change in Beijing’s stance
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Confidence in the development of cross-strait relations and eventual peaceful “reunification” was the main message from a recent meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and Lien Chan, Taiwan’s former vice-president and an honorary chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT).
This may seem like conciliatory approach for media and analysts accustomed to the remarkably harsher rhetoric coming from Beijing in recent years, and especially since the 2016 election victory of the Democratic Progressive Party, a major – but by far not the only – political force rejecting Taiwan’s unification with China.
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However, what Xi said during the meeting is hardly a new approach. Beijing’s rhetoric towards Taiwan has always been a mixed bag of carrots and sticks. A more recent example is a package of incentives to attract Taiwanese youth to seek a career in China, which, again, was not a new offer but merely repackaged initiative from previous years.
Trying to attract young Taiwanese came at a time of increased belligerent rhetoric that, among others, manifested in regular air, naval and amphibious assault exercises in the Taiwan Strait and around Taiwan. Just as the meeting between Lien and Xi concluded, another military exercise commenced in the coastal area of Zhejiang province.
An essential element in understanding the change in Xi’s rhetoric is focusing on just who his guest was. Lien is a senior KMT politician, a person with significant influence on the party leadership and a staunch supporter of Taiwan’s unification with China. He also belongs to the last generation of Taiwanese politicians who were born in China.
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