The Christian Science Monitor

Beijing's message for young Taiwanese: We mean business

Liu Zongxin, a Taiwanese golf instructor, at the golf training center he opened with his older brother on the outskirts of Fuzhou, China. Mr. Liu moved to the mainland in 2016 to open the golf school.

Last Tuesday morning, as President Xi Jinping delivered a speech at the closing of China’s annual legislative session in Beijing, Wen Liwei was at work in this coastal city 1,000 miles away. He was too busy meeting with business partners – discussing market strategies for his health food company – to pay it any attention. Besides, his office doesn’t have a television.

Had Mr. Wen watched the address, he would have heard Mr. Xi issue a thinly veiled threat against his homeland, Taiwan, the democratically governed island that Beijing views as a breakaway province. “Any actions and tricks to split China are doomed to failure,” Xi said before the nearly 3,000 members of the National People's Congress, adding that any such attempts “will meet with the people’s condemnation and the punishment of history.”

It was a stern warning at a fraught time for Taiwan. Relations with China have been tense since 2016, when Tsai Ing-wen from the pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party was elected president. Yet they’ve become especially hostile in recent weeks because

Mainland appealBrain drain

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from The Christian Science Monitor

The Christian Science Monitor2 min readInternational Relations
Victories against Russia – outside Ukraine
For Ukraine, military victories against Russia have become harder to achieve since the 2022 invasion. Yet that is not the case on a less visible front against other types of Russian aggression – in nearby countries that also have a minority of Russia
The Christian Science Monitor5 min read
The New Story Of Old Age In Rural America: Neighbors And Community Lend A Hand
Beverly Wight Smith has seen a lifetime of Maine mud seasons in this former farming town. From growing up on a farm during the Great Depression, to seeing neighbors clop through the mud on horseback during World War II when gasoline was scarce, to wa
The Christian Science Monitor5 min read
Canada Is A Role Model On Immigration. But Many Canadians Feel It’s Lost Its Way.
The bright headquarters of ApplyBoard effuses the spirit that has long defined Canada’s immigration narrative. Founded in 2015 by three brothers from Iran who came to Canada as international students, the company has taken its place in the tech clust

Related Books & Audiobooks