While Russian President Putin believes that Ukraine is part of Russia and that Ukrainians are ‘misled Russians’ and in need of (re-)integration into the ‘Russian World’, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) government under President Xi has voiced similar integration/’re-integration’ desires for the Republic of China government on Taiwan. The present centrist Democratic Progressive Party minority government on Taiwan steers an assertive Taiwanese identity course jealously watched and counteracted by the PRC government which wants to see – and has convinced most UN member states to see – Taiwan as a renegade province in need of legitimate (re-)integration. An uneasy status quo including Taiwanese self-administration is maintained. It is, however, increasingly questioned by the PRC government which seeks integration of Taiwan by 2027. A military takeover attempt may be out of the question for the time being, but ‘hybrid’ technologies for non-military coercion have been applied for some time now. Taiwan’s democratic partners seem to remain relatively unaware of the hybrid erosion of the status quo and beholden to a by now antiquated binary peace/war view.
Vol. 5 No. 4, 2024: Two Systems – China and Taiwan in 2024 (Fluri) [ENG]
Authors:
- Philipp H. Fluri, co-founder and former deputy director of the Geneva DCAF Centre for Security Governance (1999-2018) and executive director of DCAF Brussels (2005-2017). Currently professor for international relations at Wenzao University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan.
* Views and opinions of the authors of this paper do not necessarily correspond to views of the Euro-Atlantic Council of Slovenia.