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The new year will see the deadline for China’s “centenary goal”, as 2021 will be the 100th anniversary of the founding of the Communist Party of China (CCP). In December the Taiwanese defence ministry reported “irregular” patrols by People’s Liberation Army warships in the western side of the strait this year had become “routine”. The ministry said the island’s forces in conjunction with the US navy had “effectively monitored the situations and movements around the Taiwan Strait by means of its air and naval mechanisms to ensure national security and regional stability”.

But, Li Kexin, a minister at the Chinese embassy in Washington, warned that port-of-call exchanges between the US and Taiwan would not be tolerated. Deng Yuwen, international relations scholar at the University of Nottingham, highlighted Beijing’s predicament that the longer Taiwan, Macau and Hong Kong remain outside the Communist Parties full control the more their sense of a separate identity grows, and with every new generation their “Chinese” identity deteriorates. The scholar, writing in the South China Morning Post, stated that it is likely that Beijing’s “encirclement patrols” of Taiwan will become routine, leading to an increased likelihood of an “incident” that could become a pretext to invasion. Refering to the Chinese President, Mr Yuwen said: “Xi may be tempted to secure the historic achievement of reunification as part of his legacy. “Furthermore, if war breaks out, the peacetime systems and procedures will have to be set aside. “This will allow Xi to stay in power beyond his expected retirement in 2022, to give him more time to work on realising the Chinese dream of rejuvenation.

Xi Jinping in the Great Hall of the People

“If Beijing takes up arms against Taiwan in 2020, there will be formidable changes for East Asia and the world. “North Korea may also risk waging war on South Korea, if its nuclear capabilities are not eradicated earlier. “I do not want to see war breaking out. “For this reason, we must pay more attention to what happens in 2020.” JUST IN: South China Sea: Beijing warplanes in fearsome exercises amid US row

Xi Jinping with Vladimir Putin

The Chinese military has come a long way since reforms were launched four years ago, amd fighting a war is one way to gauge its improvements. In today’s China, more and more people are advocating the use of force to unify Taiwan with the mainland. In a speech in 2015 Xi said: “Taking on responsibilities means fulfilling one’s office diligently. ”Decisions and plans must be executed in full, and one must see things through from beginning to end, to ensure that no one simply goes through the motions or treats plans as a temporary measure, like a passing gust of wind.” DON'T MISS US and China seek to avoid all out war as tensions surge [Latest]

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Xi Jinping with Jair Bolsonaro

President Xi Jinping’s report at the 19th Communist Party congress in 2017 offers some clues as to how China will step up its efforts to control their sphere of influence and reinforce the regime’s oppressive ideology in the coming year. Addressing the 2,280 delegates assembled uniformly before him, he identified “one country, two systems” and the reunification of the motherland as a fundamental strategy of a “new era” for China, including the reunification with Taiwan And firing a broadside towards pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong he vowed to never allow “any individual, any organisation, any political party, at any time or by any means, to split any single piece of Chinese territory”. The 2021 centenary celebrations will mark the founding of the Communist Party of China in 1921, then a small party of about 50 members, now the world's largest ruling political party, with more than 90 million members.

Xi Jinping

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