8. China’s Policy Toward Taiwan in the Xi Era

During the last decade of the so-called “Xi Era, the policy of mainland China toward Taiwan has undergone significant changes. According to the author, these changes can be examined from three aspects. First, they reflect the consolidation of the CCP's decision-making power, and the decision-making paradigm for Taiwan policy has evolved from promoting “local pilot initiative” to fully implementing “top-level design.“ Second, the primary approach/practice/plan of mainland China’s policy toward Taiwan has shifted from “promoting reunification by economic means,” which was based on promoting economic and trade exchanges to Taiwan’s benefit, to the absorptive “integrated development” centered on the mainland. Finally, in the international context of Taiwan policy, the United States has gradually shifted from a “balancer” between the two sides of the Strait to an “ally” of Taiwan, while mainland China has abandoned its priority objective of “peaceful reunification” and adopted a two-pronged approach of “carrot and stick,” as a result of the rising confrontation between China and the United States. Changes in the three aspects have further jeopardized cross-Strait exchanges, and tensions on both sides of the Strait have escalated to the point where full-scale conflicts might erupt at any moment.