Academic says China has new tactic

Staff writer, with CNA





Beijing has changed its strategy of using its economic growth to help Taiwan prosper and is trying to impoverish the nation to make it more dependent on China, a Chinese academic said in Brussels on Tuesday.

China’s policy toward Taiwan has clearly been to do everything it can to stop independence campaigns, European Institute for Asian Studies director Song Xinning (宋新寧) said at a seminar on “The Trump Presidency: Implications for Northeast Asia.”

If there are no independence moves by Taiwan, there will be no problems in cross-strait relations, Song said at the seminar, which assessed how much change is likely to come out of the US-Japan alliance during US President Donald Trump’s first term and examine the broader implications for security dynamics in Northeast Asia.

In an interview on the sidelines of the forum, Song said there is a growing call in China for efforts to derail Taiwan’s economy, which is closely linked to China’s.

Those behind the proposal think it would be in Beijing’s interests to wreck the Taiwanese economy, Song said.

Some Chinese academics are of the opinion that Taiwan would not appreciate continued preferential treatment and have noted that China already has a huge trade deficit with Taiwan, Song said.

There is an argument that no matter how successful pan-green-leaning Taiwanese businesses in China become, they will remain independence-minded, he said.

Beijing’s policy is to maintain the “status quo” in the East and South China seas, Song said.