China's top leaders adopt measured tone on Taiwan at Two Sessions

Comments strike sober note despite raised tensions after fatal maritime clash

- Lim Min Zhang

BEIJING - China's top leaders have kept the tone on Taiwan measured and succinct at Beijing's annual parliamentary meetings, despite a recent fatal maritime clash near the Taiwan-ruled Kinmen islands that has increased cross-strait tensions.

In his work report delivered on March 5, Premier Li Qiang only broadly restated China's usual position on Taiwan, while Mr Wang Huning the Communist Party of China's (CPC) fourth-ranked official - kept mention of cross-strait ties to a minimum in another report a day earlier. Mr Li said Beijing will "resolutely oppose separatist activities aimed at 'Taiwan independence' and external interference", while promoting the "peaceful development of cross-strait relations" - language that has remained broadly similar to previous years' 

He was addressing more than 2,800 National People's Congress (NPC) deputies at the Chinese legislature's annual meeting in Beijing, a key highlight of the Two Sessions, China's most important political event of the year.

While it was unusual for "external interference" to feature in the work report, other Chinese leaders have used the term when addressing Taiwan policy in recent years, such as President Xi Jinping at the twice-a-decade party congress in October 2022.