Media Type: Speech
A report to the National Congress of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), more commonly referred to as just the “Party Congress,” is arguably the most authoritative document in the Chinese Party-state ecosystem. It is technically the report of the outgoing Central Committee (here, the 13th Central Committee) at the quinquennial gathering of the Party Congress (here, the 14th Party Congress). Delivered by the General Secretary of the CCP (here, Jiang Zemin), the report not only provides an official summary of the Party’s work over the past five years, but also outlines the official Party stance on all major policy issues and sets policy priorities for the incoming Central Committee (here, the 14th Central Committee).
This is the second white paper on Taiwan released by the PRC State Council’s Taiwan Affairs Office and the State Council Information Office. The white paper provides a comprehensive overview of the official PRC position on Taiwan’s status, outlining Beijing’s assessment of the current factors impacting cross-Strait tensions, and a policy pathway for achieving “reunification.”
Jiang Zemin delivered this speech at a New Year’s celebration held by the Taiwan Affairs Office, an administrative office under the PRC State Council. In the speech, Jiang puts forth eight points as part of a policy promoting the development of cross-Strait relations and “reunification” by peaceful means.
Hu Jintao delivered this address on the 30th anniversary of the 1979 “Message to Taiwan Compatriots,” which was published by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress when the United States and PRC established diplomatic relations. In this speech, Hu puts forth six points as part of a policy promoting the “peaceful development of cross-Strait relations.”
The “Message to Compatriots in Taiwan” was published by the Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress on January 1, 1979—the day that the United States and PRC established diplomatic relations. The 1979 message called for an end to cross-Strait military confrontation and set forth a series of proposals that would become the basis for Beijing’s policy approach to “peaceful reunification.”
Yao Yang, dean of the National School of Development (NSD) at Peking University, identifies three near-term challenges to China’s economic development. The first two—insufficient consumer demand and declining interest in real estate purchases — have both been affected by declining consumer confidence amid the COVID-19 pandemic and ensuing lockdown measures. The third challenge is the risk of recession in key export markets such as the United States and Europe, which may negatively affect Chinese exports. To address these challenges, Yao emphasizes the importance of policies designed to stabilize the real estate market, as well as measures to shore up consumer confidence (which he calls “more precious than gold”), such as direct payments to Chinese citizens. Yao suggests that Beijing should lead by example and implement a more “rational” approach to COVID-19 prevention and control. This speech was delivered to the China Economic Observation (CEO) conference just prior to the November 2022 protests across China opposing the Chinese government’s “dynamic zero-COVID” measures.
Liu Jieyi, the former director of Taiwan Affairs Office who led the office at the time of this speech, spoke at a seminar on cross-Strait relations held in the wake of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. He emphatically recounts Beijing’s efforts towards “reunification” over the last decade and reaffirms the official Party line that “reunification” is integral to China’s goal of achieving “national rejuvenation.”
Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi’s speech at a June 2022 joint forum between Russian and Chinese think tanks, where he promotes the Global Development Initiative and the Global Security Initiative, and suggests that Russia and China have the opportunity to shape a new approach to global governance.
China’s renowned international affairs scholar, Yan Xuetong, delivered this speech at the 14th Annual Meeting of Chinese Community of Political Science and International Studies, where he criticized the trajectory of China’s international relations discipline towards viral content rather than in-depth study based on scientific methodology.
This Xi Jinping speech from the December 2021 Central Economic Work Conference, published in the May 2022 edition of China’s leading theoretical journal Qiushi, discusses major issues in China’s future development path and signals a renewed emphasis on common prosperity and stricter regulation of capital.