Why new team in Beijing is set to ramp up pressure on Taiwan

A new team in Beijing is expected to use its wealth of diplomatic experience to further constrict Taiwan’s international manoeuvring space, with the aim of coercing the island’s independence-leaning government into acknowledging a key cross-strait agreement known as the 1992 consensus.

Coupled with Beijing’s existing military and economic “salami-slicing” tactics, which have included conducting more drills near the island and courting Taipei’s diplomatic allies, cross-strait relations experts said the new Taiwan policy team would be more focused on dealing with major countries like the United States to put more pressure on the self-ruled island, which Beijing views as a breakaway province.

China’s ruling Communist Party early this week approved an extensive government restructuring plan that will go to the national legislature for endorsement during its annual meeting that begins on Monday. While it is not immediately clear how the shake-up will affect the various bodies involved in Taiwan policies – including Beijing’s top agency for handling cross-strait issues, the State Council’s Taiwan Affairs Office – former UN ambassador Liu Jieyi is expected to play a key role.

Liu has been an outspoken critic of the West and once blamed Washington, London and Paris for the turmoil in Syria, calling their criticisms of the Syrian government “very irresponsible and absurd”.

Other prominent figures in charge of Taiwan affairs will include the deputy leader of the Central Leading Group for Taiwan Affairs, Communist Party Politburo Standing Committee member Wang Yang, United Front Work Department head You Quan, who spent five years as party secretary of Fujian province on the western side of the Taiwan Strait, and Dai Bingguo, the chairman of the National Society of Taiwan Studies, who was the country’s top diplomat when he served as a state councillor for five years under then president Hu Jintao.