Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council head, Chiu Tai-san (邱太三) says China doesn’t have a timeline for taking over Taiwan. That comment came after the council’s International Conference on PRC’s Power Shift and Governance.
During China’s 20th Party Congress last week, President Xi Jinping (習近平)reaffirmed the country’s claims to Taiwan. The Party’s constitution also opposed so-called “Taiwan separatism”. That prompted many commentators to speculate about the timeline for China’s future moves against Taiwan.
On Friday, Minister Chiu Tai-san said there is no evidence that China has a concrete timeline for Taiwan. He says, however, that unification and introduction of China’s “one country, two systems” model is clearly one of Xi Jinping’s goals for the “rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.”
Chiu also said that China has two approaches to Taiwan, a firmer one that opposes so-called “separatism” and a softer approach that promotes unification. He says China deploys those methods depending on the situation and election results in Taiwan. Chiu says China’s upcoming CCP plenum and National People’s Congress early next year will reveal which of the two approaches Beijing might favor in the future.