Taipei faces a tougher Beijing if Xi Jinping stays in power, analysts warn
With no restriction on his term in office, Chinese president will have stronger sense of ‘mission to bring Taiwan back to the mainland fold’
Taiwan will likely come under more pressure from Beijing over its cross-strait unification agenda once changes to the constitution are made to allow President Xi Jinping to stay in power indefinitely, analysts warned on Tuesday.
While Xi might not push forward the agenda in the short term as he tackles domestic and international issues, analysts said Taiwan should prepare for Beijing to get tougher on unification.
“Once Xi makes a breakthrough in the collective leadership system built by his predecessors, it will mean there is strong internal support for a more powerful leadership,” said Chao Chien-min, dean of the college of social sciences at Chinese Culture University in Taipei.
China announced on Sunday that the ruling Communist Party wants to revise the constitution to end the two-term limits on the president and vice-president, which would allow Xi to stay in office for longer than 10 years.
“This will also give Xi a stronger mandate for his policy towards Taiwan,” Chao said, adding that any hope of a policy shift brought about by leadership change on the mainland was just wishful thinking.
