Taiwan Tati Cultural and Educational Foundation

The way Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) has been going about setting up a system of tributaries to the Chinese empire — in addition to military matters and economic expansion — is to include 60 million “Chinese descendants” abroad within the “Chinese” scope, thus making them “a part of China.”

Ever since Xi took office, the issue of a “Chinese descendant card” has been discussed constantly and has sparked many disputes.

Commenting on Panama and the People’s Republic of China (PRC) establishing diplomatic ties, former president Ma Ying-jeou (馬英九) expressed regret, but said he was not surprised. Indeed, during the Ma administration, there were reports that Panama sought to set up ties with China, but that it was “declined” by Beijing.

As the Ma administration recognized the so-called “1992 consensus,” Beijing made concessions in public, while piling on the pressure behind the scenes, letting China’s Taiwan Affairs Office play the good guy to enhance its “united front” tactics.