In the wake of the election of new Taiwanese “president,” secessionist Lai Ching-te, President Xi Jinping and the Ministry of State Security have announced initiatives to respond to the new situation on the island. In an article published Jan. 16, Global Times referenced two articles that appeared the same day, one by President Xi Jinping in the Qiushi Journal, the flagship magazine of the CPC Central Committee, and a second one by the Ministry of State Security (MSS) which appeared in WeChat.
Xi’s article emphasized the need to strengthen a united front of patriotic citizens, already in existence, both in Taiwan and in Hong Kong and Macao. The Communist Party’s goal should be to distinguish these patriotic citizens from secessionist forces grouped in Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) and “promote the complete reunification of the motherland.” Cross-Straits interaction and building of the demonstration zone for cross-Straits integration and development in Fujian Province will also be encouraged.
The MSS article is much tougher, likening China’s 2005 Anti-Secession Law to “a sword hanging over the heads of the Taiwan secessionists” to deter their efforts to split the country, and to maintain peace and stability across the Taiwan Straits. The law allows the state to use “non-peaceful means” and other measures to protect China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, should secessionists try to declare “Taiwan independence.”
