Andrew Leung

Opinion | How Beijing can make reunification more appealing for Taiwanese

With a ‘one country, two systems’ formula out of favour, Beijing may need to think outside the box and spell out a more liberal and accommodative constitutional package

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Andrew Leung

Published: 5:30am, 25 Jan 2024Updated: 5:55am, 25 Jan 2024

With the unprecedented third election victory of Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), and Beijing branding president-elect William Lai Ching-te an “obstinate Taiwan-independence worker”, two questions are being asked: Can peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait can be maintained? And is achieving unification by 2049, the centenary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China’s centenary, still a realistic idea?

As of June last year, according to a long-running poll by Taiwan’s National Chengchi University, only about 6 per cent of Taiwanese surveyed supported either unification or independence as soon as possible, while nearly 88 per cent wanted to maintain the status quo.

In the book US-Taiwan Relations: Will China’s Challenge Lead to a Crisis, authors Ryan Hass, Bonnie Glaser and Richard Bush expound on the official US position on Taiwan. America’s one-China policy is guided by the Taiwan Relations Act, three joint communiques and “six assurances”.

The Taiwan Relations Act authorises arming Taiwan to defend against any non-peaceful solution of the Taiwan question. The three joint communiques confirm the normalisation of relations with Beijing under the one-China policy. First conveyed by the Reagan administration, the “six assurances” for Taiwan explain that the United States had not taken any position on Beijing’s sovereignty over Taiwan, would not play a mediation role and would not end arms sales to Taiwan any time soon.

The authors stress that America’s policy is designed to preserve Taiwan’s democratic success story and the credibility of America’s security commitments without triggering conflict, while providing the time and space for an eventual peaceful solution that is acceptable to Taiwan’s people.

Accordingly, Taiwan is to be accorded all the elbow room it needs as a flourishing democracy, where independent nationhood is not a prerequisite.