Taiwan’s “Brave Wind” comes at an inconvenient time for Beijing which is about to hold the 17th Congress of the Chinese Communist Party next week. Much like Indian leaders on Kashmir, Chinese communists cannot afford to look weak on Taiwan and allow rivals to outflank them on national security.

At the congress, Hu Jintao, the president of China and the boss of the CCP, is expected to step up the political tirade against Taiwan and its plans to hold a referendum on joining the United Nations. While there is no hope in hell that Taiwan would be admitted to the UN, Chen is using the referendum as a way to consolidate the separatist sentiment in the territory.

Hu’s theory

CCP leaders are more than mere managers of the party-state in China.

They are expected to be brilliant political theorists. Like the leaders of the three preceding generations of the CCP, Hu Jintao would like his ideas to be canonised and grafted on to the party constitution. There is speculation on which ideas of Hu might merit such honour. One view is that Hu’s thesis on “scientific development”, which is the CCP version of the term “sustainable development” commonly used around the world, might make the grade.

Others point to the new phrase recently coined by Hu and subsumes the idea of scientific development. The tongue twister is called “Four Steadfasts”. Hu insists that the CCP must hold “steadfast” to the emancipation of the mind, the reform and opening policy, scientific development and social harmony.

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