Xi’s rhetoric on Taiwan not new: official

CALL TO ACTION: After the phrase ‘fighting Taiwanese separatist forces’ was used at a meeting in 2024, China escalated its military activity around Taiwan, the official said

• By Huang Chin-hsuan / Staff reporter

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Chinese President Xi Jinping’s (習近平) phrasing to “combat Taiwanese independence forces” is not new despite a perceived escalation in Beijing’s rhetoric, Mainland Affairs Council Deputy Chairman Liang Wen-chieh (梁文傑) yesterday said.

Xi yesterday reiterated his firm opposition to Taiwanese independence and external interference in a speech marking the 77th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China.

He called for efforts “to resolutely fight secessionist forces seeking ‘Taiwanese independence,’ oppose external interference and promote the peaceful development of cross-strait relations to advance national reunification,” the state-run Xinhua news agency reported.

The name and logo of the Mainland Affairs Council are pictured on a podium at the council in Taipei in an undated photograph.

Photo: Taipei Times

Xi called on China to “take solid steps to achieve the great national rejuvenation” in remarks made at a reception at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Xinhua reported.

Some observers have interpreted Xi’s remarks on Taiwan as an escalation in rhetoric, pointing to him replacing the term “oppose” Taiwanese independence, which had been commonly used in the past, with a pledge to “resolutely fight Taiwanese independence separatist forces.”

Liang said the phrase was not new.

Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference Chairman Wang Huning (王滬寧) used the phrase at a Central Committee Taiwan Affairs Work Conference in February 2024, and the wording was subsequently included in a Chinese government work report issued in March 2024, Liang said.

Xi also used the same wording at a ceremony marking the 103rd anniversary of the founding of the Chinese Communist Party on July 1 that year, he added.

After the phrase was used at the Taiwan Affairs Work Conference, China began taking a series of concrete actions, including holding regular military exercises, sending military aircraft across the Taiwan Strait median line, deploying coast guard vessels to harass ships in waters around Kinmen County, and labeling Taiwanese politicians, prosecutors and judicial officials as “Taiwanese independence elements,” Liang said.