Mass reshuffle in China's Taiwan desk
Mass reshuffle in China's Taiwan desk
By Ching Cheong
SINGAPORE: Beijing recently launched a massive revamp of institutions that deal with the Taiwan problem to ensure that future policies are in sync with developments on the island.
The change followed a major stocktaking exercise by top leaders when they went for their annual summer retreat in Beidaihe to explore new approaches which they could take on the Taiwan issue.
Although, officially, China stressed that the reshuffling was part of an overall plan to rejuvenate its bureaucracy, many observers linked it to the rise to power of the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), which caught the Chinese flat-footed. Sources said that Chinese President Jiang Zemin was upset that cross-strait relations had degenerated during his watch.
That there is now open talk in Taiwan of two Chinas where previously there was agreement that there could only be one China was cited as a major failure on the part of Chinese policy.
Hence the need for something to be done to redress the situation. No stone was left unturned in the revamp.
Apart from the highest decision-making body, the Leading Group on Taiwan, a unit under the Politburo chaired by President Jiang himself, all other Taiwan-related institutions were not spared.
According to a source familiar with the revamp, the personnel overhaul was based on three guiding principles: age, professionalism and streamlining.
These were deemed necessary to meet the new challenges following the ascendancy of a pro-independence government in Taiwan.
The reshuffle started with the Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO) of the State Council, a ministerial-level organization responsible for implementing Taiwan-related policies.
Its first deputy director, veteran Taiwan hand Tang Shubei, 69, was the first to go.
He also gave up his position as first vice-chairman of the Association for Relations across the Taiwan Strait (Arats), a surrogate organization handling practical issues in the absence of official ties across the strait.
Replacing him in Arats is Li Bingcai, 55, former mayor of the city of Yangzhou in Jiangsu province, the hometown of the Chinese President.
He also took up the position of first deputy director. Most agreed that the current director, Chen Yunlin, 59, would also have to take the rap and go.
He is likely to be replaced by the current Chinese Ambassador to the United States, Li Zhaoxing, early next year after the American presidential election.
Compared with Chen, who has an industrial background in the north-east, Li's experience is much more relevant.
Obviously, Beijing figures that the American factor will become more pronounced in the years to come and hence it needs an old American hand to head its key office.
The TAO reshuffle included two new appointments to the posts of vice-directors.
They are Zhou Mingwei, 45, former director of the Foreign Affairs Department of Shanghai Municipal Government, and Maj. Gen. Wang Zaixi, 53, of the Second Department (Intelligence) of the General Staff of the People's Liberation Army (PLA).
After graduating from Fudan University, Shanghai, in 1984, Zhou studied for his master's degree and his doctorate at Harvard University from 1988 to 1992 and is considered an upcoming young scholar with in-depth knowledge of the US.
Wang is a military officer with both diplomatic and academic background.
He was a military attache at the Chinese embassy in Pakistan and taught at the National Defense University.
Their appointments reflect the new thinking. Beijing sees future Taiwan policy as a "simultaneous deployment of both military and political struggles".
The new TAO team is capable of conducting ideological battles on both the diplomatic and military fronts.
Wang is the first military officer since 1992 to head the civilian TAO on a day-to-day basis.
The previous head of TAO with a military background was Gen. Yang Side, a close associate of the then President Yang Shangkun.
With the relaxation of cross-strait relations following the consensus on one-China reached in 1992, no military officer had ever been posted to TAO.
The return now of a military officer marks the delicate change in the situation.
While TAO is being beefed up with younger people with relevant experience, Arats is being downgraded.
It used to have four deputy secretaries, but the number has now been reduced to one. Where it had six departments, there are now only three.
Slashing Arats suggests that Beijing is uncertain about the future role of this surrogate organization.
It is interesting to note that while Wang Daohan, President Jiang's mentor in a number of areas, remains the Arats chairman, there are rumors that Politburo member Qian Qichen might replace Wang, who is now 80.
By far the largest-scale reshuffling took place in the Taiwan- related think-tank apparatus.
Sources said that it was the failure of think-tanks to grasp accurately the Taiwan situation that caused the greatest dissatisfaction.
At the moment, different policy branches, as well as academic institutes, have their own research units on Taiwan, totaling more than several dozen nationwide.
Yet, in the eyes of Jiang, they all failed.
Why did they all fail to warn the leadership of the fundamental changes in the Taiwanese mentality when the Taiwan issue was so crucial to China? To correct this situation, the Chinese President decided to integrate think-tanks belonging to different policy branches into a single powerful research center.
The Center for Research in Cross-Strait Relations was created recently and is headed by Tang Shubei.
Its mission is to integrate and coordinate research and cross- strait exchanges.
A number of institutions belonging to the PLA, the national security ministry and the foreign ministry would be amalgamated into the new center.
Jiang hopes that by streamlining research efforts, the quality of studies on Taiwan will be upgraded.
At the same time, a new Taiwan Research Institute, specializing in the study of the DPP, was created in the United University of Beijing and is headed by Xu Dongbo, a rare expert in DPP affairs.
Clearly, for the first time, Beijing has become serious about understanding the new ruling party in Taiwan.
-- The Straits Times/Asia News Network