The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has inherited the most fundamental political concept since the Qin Dynasty: the idea of "great unification."
In the CCP's narrative, holding onto Xinjiang and Tibet, threatening Taiwan with military force, and prohibiting local autonomy all stem from the concept of "great unification." Great unification is not an entity but a concept; it is entirely based on faith.
Chinese people are a very practical group, and their support for great unification comes entirely from utilitarian brainwashing: they hand over rights and taxes to the central government, and the central government provides security, coordinates relationships between regions, prevents trade and border friction, balances the economy, and provides manpower and material resources in emergencies.
However, history has shown that great unification is a very costly way to solve problems and may even backfire on local security. An example is the collapse of the Ming Dynasty. During the Ming Dynasty, the northern economy collapsed, leading to a rebellion, but the south remained relatively peaceful. As a result of great unification, after the collapse of the central government, the south was entirely unable to protect itself.
This is why the history of great unification does not stand up to scrutiny. From the unification of the Qin Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty, a total of 2133 years, the unified time was 950 years, and the divided time was 1183 years, with the time of division slightly longer than the time of unification. (Ge Jianxiong "Unification and Division")
Since the Communist Party came to power, it has been promoting great unification (division leads to war, and the people will suffer). Every time there is an internal disaster, they also desperately promote the central government's nationwide coordination and effective assistance.
But Xi Jinping's actions over the past three years have severely damaged the illusion of great unification. For example, during the nationwide lockdown in the spring of 2020 due to COVID-19, regions were strictly guarded against each other, with no cooperation or assistance. This is the real attitude of the people across China under disaster, leading to Xi Jinping having to oppressively force the cancellation of lockdowns. The same farce played out on a large scale in 2022, lasting nearly a year.
If the central government cannot provide security, and even issues barbaric commands, it will cause even greater disasters, such as the lockdown of Shanghai.
Since 2020, the CCP has hardly used the military for large-scale disaster relief. In the 2021 Henan floods, for some unknown reason, the People's Liberation Army's relief efforts were weak. According to Xinhua, by the 28th, a total of 46,000 person-times were deployed by the PLA and armed police, and 61,000 person-times by the militia, a number much less than the local garrison alone. In the summer of 2023, in the Hebei floods, not only did large-scale PLA relief not appear, but there was also a deliberate release of floodwaters to protect Beijing and Xiong'an. In such a situation, great unification brings only disaster.
Guess what the people will do if China faces another pandemic like COVID-19 or floods like those in Hebei? Are they waiting for Xi Jinping to send troops to rescue us?
Due to the central government's wolf-warrior-style diplomacy, China's foreign trade has plummeted in the past two years. Would major foreign trade provinces like Guangdong, Zhejiang, and Shanghai foolishly participate in such a decoupling action? Especially when they have to hand over the money earned to the central government to fill the fiscal gaps in the northwest, southwest, and northeast?
Many in Hong Kong once dreamed of great unification, but Xi Jinping's brutal measures to forcibly change Hong Kong's "one country, two systems" into "one country, one system" have awakened almost all overseas people with unification sentiments.
Xi Jinping's last cover for the dream of great unification is the unification of Taiwan. If the forced unification of Taiwan fails, it will be the moment when the wall of great unification collapses.
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