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🇹🇼 Taiwan /Elections & Politics

Maintain Taiwan's Status Quo? Beijing Says Reunification Unstoppable; Scholars Criticize Ignoring Mainstream Opinion

From Liberty Times · () Chinese

Translated from Chinese, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • China's Taiwan Affairs Office insists that reunification is inevitable and a shared aspiration of all Chinese people.
  • This statement comes after a Taiwanese poll indicated a majority prefer maintaining the status quo.
  • Scholars criticize Beijing's interpretation of the status quo, arguing it ignores Taiwanese public opinion.

China's Taiwan Affairs Office has firmly stated that the "complete reunification" of China is an inevitable trend and the common wish of all Chinese people, directly contradicting recent Taiwanese public opinion polls favoring the status quo. Spokesperson Zhu Fenglian declared that "no person or force can stop" this trend.

The complete reunification of the motherland is the common aspiration of all Chinese people, a trend that cannot be stopped by any person or force.

— Zhu FenglianSpokesperson for China's Taiwan Affairs Office, responding to Taiwanese public opinion favoring the status quo.

This assertion follows a Taiwanese poll showing a significant majority prefer to maintain the current state of affairs, with declining support for unification or independence. Beijing, however, interprets the "status quo" as the inherent belonging of Taiwan to China, a view scholars argue deliberately misrepresents Taiwanese sentiment and ignores the local mainstream.

Zhu reiterated that there is only one China, and both the mainland and Taiwan belong to it, emphasizing that China's sovereignty and territory have never been divided. She expressed confidence that more Taiwanese people will recognize that their future lies with a strong motherland and that "peaceful reunification, 'one country, two systems'" is the optimal path.

China maliciously distorts the status quo, believing it must conform to the one-China principle. This is completely different from the perceptions of Taiwan and Western countries.

— Wang Hong-renProfessor of Political Science at National Cheng Kung University, criticizing Beijing's interpretation of cross-strait relations.

Academics like Wang Hong-ren from National Cheng Kung University criticize Beijing's stance. He argues that China's definition of the status quo is a "malicious distortion" that clashes with international and Taiwanese perceptions. Wang stresses that Taiwanese public opinion, which largely views the relationship as one of mutual non-subordination between two distinct governing entities, is being disregarded by Beijing.

Taiwan is China's Taiwan, and Taiwan's future can and must be decided by the more than 1.4 billion Chinese people, including Taiwan compatriots.

— Zhu FenglianReiterating Beijing's position on Taiwan's future and the principle of 'one country, two systems'.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Liberty Times in Chinese. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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