TAIPEI - Chinese President Xi Jinping is widely expected to secure a fourth five-year term as general secretary at the ruling Communist Party's twice-a-decade congress next year, after a key party meeting last week paved the way for his continued leadership, according to a Taiwan government official.
Shen Yu-chung, deputy minister of Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, which oversees cross-strait policy, said at a Taipei symposium on Monday the fifth plenary session of the 20th Central Committee "further consolidated Xi Jinping's position as the unquestionable central leader, whose authority cannot be challenged."
The four-day session adopted a resolution on "persevering with full and rigorous party self-governance," Chinese state-run media said, with a vow to continue the party's fight against corruption and officially approving the expulsion of former senior officials, including top general Zhang Youxia.
Shen predicted Beijing would seek to challenge the jurisdiction and law enforcement authority of regional democracies, including Taiwan, Japan and the Philippines, while avoiding an outright military conflict.
Beijing would more frequently use its coast guard vessels, research ships, maritime militia vessels and other nontraditional military forces to that end, he added.
He also warned that any actions that deviate from Xi's ideology or the established political line may face strict purges, leading mainland China to the risks of more extreme and reckless policy decisions.
Regardless of developments in mainland China's domestic political landscape, Taiwan's government will continue to bolster its defense capabilities, strengthen economic and societal resilience, deepen democratic safeguards, and enhance legal measures to counter foreign infiltration and cognitive warfare, Shen said.
Cross-strait tensions have intensified since Taiwan President Lai Ching-te, whom Beijing condemns as a "separatist," took office in 2024. The island and the Communist-led mainland have been governed separately since 1949 due to a civil war.
