News Reference Material
Date: March 05, 2023
The Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) issued the following statement today (March 5, 2023) ahead of the “Two Sessions” (National People's Congress and Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference) of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The MAC said that the Two Sessions this year is both a routine annual meeting and the first of the CCP’s new five-year term, where a government reshuffle is expected. The Government Work Report of the State Council presented at this event indicates a strong focus on strengthening and stabilizing the party amid the ongoing challenges both at home and abroad. The report emphasizes work on reviving the hardest-hit areas, namely its economy and society, in the post-pandemic era. The report also vows to tighten control and governance in the future through reforms of party and state institutions. We believe that the Beijing authorities should be more open-minded about and devote more resources to making changes in the matters of true concern to the people. That is, the CCP authorities should strive to improve the people's livelihood, rights, and interests; promote democratic reforms, government oversight, and checks and balances; and respect the power of civil society. Moreover, the CCP should shoulder its responsibility for maintaining regional peace. Only through these changes will the CCP be able to minimize risks from its policy decisions and governance approaches and grow capable of meeting the challenges posed by the complex situation facing it at the moment.
In the Two Sessions, the CCP reiterated its established Taiwan policy stance and toed the consistent line of its Taiwan work set in the 20th National Congress of the CCP. In response to these statements, the MAC called on the Beijing authorities once again to seriously face up to the fact that "the two sides of the Taiwan Strait are not subordinate to each other" and genuinely respect Taiwanese people’s staunch commitments to the Republic of China’s sovereignty, democracy, and freedom. The CCP should stop imposing on Taiwan its political framework, coercive actions, and other united front work aimed at dividing our society. It should handle cross-Strait affairs pragmatically and in line with the spirits of rationality, equality, and mutual respect in order to prepare the ground for positive cross-Strait interaction. Our government will closely monitor and assess mainland China’s future moves regarding its Taiwan work, and will shore up our policies and regulations for security management to prevent possible risks and ensure healthy and orderly cross-Strait interactions and exchanges.