Taiwan Says China Raising Pressure to Gain Control Across Strait
Taiwan Says China Raising Pressure to Gain Control Across Strait
(Bloomberg) -- China has intensified its pressure on Taiwan, opening up new fronts in its campaign to bring the island under its control, according to Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council.
People’s Liberation Army aircraft have repeatedly breached the median line in the Taiwan Strait between Taiwan and the Chinese mainland this month. The latest actions show Beijing no longer recognized Taipei’s claim to the waters, according to a statement on the council’s website Saturday that cited an adviser.
The incursions by PLA aircraft showed Beijing’s objective was to extend its jurisdiction, the adviser said in the statement. China’s imposition of a sweeping security law in Hong Kong, after a year of pro-democracy street protests, showed its desire to broaden its control, according to an academic report.
“Legal warfare has been part of China’s comprehensive strategy to deal with Taiwan issues, but it was less significant when cross-strait ties were good,” Paul Chu, professor at National Taiwan Normal University’s Graduate Institute of Political Science, said Saturday. “With confrontation increasing in cross-strait ties, we will begin to see substantial legal effects from China’s legal warfare.”
China may also try to lure Taiwan citizens with economic and other incentives, according to the statement. Beijing could offer social and financial benefits to people from across the Strait who apply for Chinese-issued identity cards to integrate them into Chinese society, it said.
Beijing has an intensive cyber propaganda campaign promoting unification with Taiwan through Internet celebrities on platforms like WeChat, which bypasses laws, advisers said in the statement. Taiwan should be better prepared to thwart these attacks and must work with global allies to develop its defenses, it said.
Beijing regards the island as part of its territory, and reserves the right to annex it by force, even though the two sides have been ruled separately for more than 70 years and have deep social and economic ties.
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