Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

China recently introduced 31 incentives aimed at attracting Taiwanese. Fourteen of these are nothing but old wine in new bottles, but the other 17 are quite new.

Beijing has two reasons for this major move.

First, the incentives are an extension of the two policies aimed at residents in central and southern Taiwan, middle and low-income families, small and medium-sized enterprises, and young people (the “three middles and the youth” policy, 三中一青), as well as the young generation and the grassroots level (the “one generation and one stratum” policy, 一代一線). They are aimed at attracting the younger generation who support Taiwanese independence, because that is all they have ever known, and turning them into a pro-unification vanguard.

There was near unanimous approval among the more than 3,000 delegates at the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) 19th National People’s Congress earlier this month to abolish constitutional limits on presidential terms, with only two voting against and three abstaining.

In doing so, they also approved Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) as general secretary of the CCP, chairman of the Central Military Commission and president — the three main offices of the state — in effect making him a Chinese emperor for the 21st century.