The most vital of the vital interests: Taiwan in the 20th Congress in the history of relations between Beijing and Taipei

Abstract

The article explores the representation of the Taiwan issue in the ��th Congress of the Chinese Communist
Party (CCP), tracing the evolution of public discourse on Taiwan over the past decades. The 20th Congress
was held a few months after the People’s Liberation Army exercises in the Taiwan strait, a moment of
international tension that had led Western analysts and journalists to hypothesize a “Fourth strait Crisis”.
Since 2020, Beijing appears determined to outline a “new normal” in relations in the Straits: with the
numbers of incursions into the air defense identifcation space growing exponentially while references to the
need for a solution to the Taiwanese question become increasingly frequent. The article identifes elements
of continuity and discontinuity in the CCP’s approach towards Taiwan. The main discontinuity emerges from
the defnitive abandonment of a path of rapprochement between the two sides of the strait assisted by a
minority part of Taiwanese civil society. The main elements of continuity are the coercive dimension as the
only possible solution in the vision of the CCP, even the need of a peaceful negotiation is still present, and the
absence of a time frame, or a deadline, for the process desired by Beijing.