All that Xi wants – a conversation on China-Taiwan relations

The event will take place in Jekteviksbakken 31.

It is also possible to join through Zoom.

Xi Jinping was reelected to an unprecedented third term as general secretary of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) at the party congress in October. What does it mean for China-Taiwan realtions

At the congress, Xi removed political rivals and elevated loyalists to the top ranks of the Party. He repeated that Beijing would attempt a peaceful unification with Taiwan, but again did not rule out the use of force. With no moderating voices in China to act as a check on his impulses, an attempt to annex Taiwan seems to get closer.

In Taiwan, a growing majority opposes the idea of becoming part of mainland China. Ahead of the November local elections, Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen warns Beijing that Taiwan will not give up its democracy or sovereignty, but she seems willing to restart communications – which China cut off after her election in 2016.

In this breakfast meeting, Harald Bøckman will help us sum up last month’s CCP Congress and Julia Marinaccio (on link from Taipei) will give is an update on the upcoming local election on Taiwan. They will talk about China-Taiwan relations, political culture, Xi Jinping’s ambitions, and life under constant threat of invasion.

Julia Marinaccio is a postdoctoral fellow at the Department of foreign languages at the University of Bergen. She has many years of experience devoted to Taiwan with research on political ideology, political transnationalism, and cross-strait relations. She is currently working on environmental governance and natural resource management in China.

Harald

Bøckman

is emeritus researcher at Centre for Development and the Environment at the University of Oslo. He is an expert on the political culture of China, dating back to his studies at Beijing University from 1976 to 1977. Bøckman was one of the initiators behind the Nordic Association for China Studies, which he headed 1993-95, and has also been board member and Secretary General of the European Association for China Studies.