China's pursuit of peaceful reunification sincere

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China's policy on the Taiwan question has turned out to be one of the topics of great concern among some Westerners closely watching the ongoing Two Sessions.

The Chinese government "officially adopted tougher language against" the Taiwan region, dropping the mention of "peaceful reunification" in the government work report released on Tuesday, according to Reuters. Some Westerners, citing the rise in the country's military budget, worry that China "wants to grow its military to the point where it is prepared to win a war" across the Straits.

While certain Western media outlets, by hyping up the Chinese mainland's "aggressiveness" against Taiwan, are deliberately stoking tensions in the region, the Chinese government's stance on the question has been consistent. "We will continue to strive for peaceful reunification with the greatest sincerity," China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on the sidelines of the annual session of the National People's Congress on Thursday.

The language has remained similar to previous years. Li Nan, a visiting senior research fellow at the East Asian Institute from the National University of Singapore believes this indicates China's current policy on the Taiwan question will continue, including with a heavier emphasis on deterrence.

For the overall interests of the Chinese nation, the mainland is unwilling to see a war breaking out in the region, and thus is not happy to act "assertive" or project increased "toughness" towards Taiwan as some Westerners hype. Undeniably, the Taiwan Straits have seen rising tensions in recent years. But this is not a result of the "aggressiveness" from the mainland. Rather, it is pro-independent forces that remain the most destructive factor to regional peace and stability.

As Wang clarified, China's bottom line is also quite clear: "We will never allow Taiwan to be separated from the motherland." Since the Democratic Progressive Party's Lai Ching-te, known as a "pragmatic worker for Taiwan independence," won the local election, some separatists in collusion with external forces have been attempting to seize Lai's victory as an opportunity to tear up the one-China principle. As the Chinese government has reiterated on several occasions, this is not what the Chinese mainland can tolerate. Tensions rise in this context.

But this does not mean a change in China's policy on the Taiwan question. In contrast to Western speculations, the mainland will not unilaterally change the status quo in the Taiwan Straits.

True, China plans to raise military budget by 7.2 percent, but the increase is to better protect, not destroy, peace in the region. In the face of unrest and provocations in the South China Sea, the Taiwan Straits, and the Asia-Pacific region, a strong Chinese military is a stabilizer factor.

A military budget of 1.67 trillion yuan ($231 billion) for 2024 is moderate and reasonable that has taken factors including military modernization and complex external security environment into account. It has been for nine consecutive years that China's military budget has maintained single-digit growth.

Shouting China's "military threat" and "aggression" in the Taiwan region, the U.S.'s military spending is nearly four times that of China. According to Reuters, U.S. President Joe Biden authorized a record $886 billion annual defense budget for fiscal 2024. China's military expenditure in the share of its GDP has also remained at a low level – around 1.3 percent – in recent years, in comparison with the U.S.'s 3.5 percent and NATO's guideline figure of 2 percent.

China's pursuit of peaceful reunification is sincere. But interestingly, its sincerity is always deliberately interpreted as "aggressiveness" and "toughness." Apparently, those hyping the "China threat" are real destructive forces anticipating a real war in the region.

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