Taiwan and the mainland have been divided for seventy years, and reunification has also been discussed for seventy years. Various reunification plans have been proposed, but none have been accepted by the rulers on either side of the Strait. The mainland insists on “one country, two systems,” coupled with the threat of military unification, which Taiwan firmly rejects. As a result, the current situation is one of maintaining the status quo—no war, no peace, and no unification.

1. The Revival of Confucius and Laozi Begins with the Peaceful Transformation of the CCP

The revival of Confucius and Laozi is the foundation of peaceful reunification, and the revival of Confucius and Laozi must begin with the peaceful transformation of the Chinese Communist Party. The idea of peacefully transforming communist parties was proposed in the 1950s by U.S. Secretary of State John Foster Dulles and adopted as national policy by President Eisenhower. During the 1956 Hungarian democratic movement, Dulles clearly stated that Hungary would not be regarded as a potential ally, which reassured Khrushchev and led to Soviet military suppression; peaceful transformation in Hungary thus failed. In 1972, President Nixon went to Beijing and bowed and shook hands with Mao Zedong, possibly with the intention of peacefully transforming the CCP. However, facing the seasoned anti-communist Mao Zedong, he found no way in, and Nixon soon stepped down due to the Watergate scandal.

In 1980, President Carter ignored the mass movement of more than 6,000 people within China calling for criticism and abandonment of Mao. He allowed Deng Xiaoping to wield the big stick of the “Four Cardinal Principles,” crushing the anti-Mao movement and causing the peaceful transformation effort to fail. In 1989, during the million-strong democratic movement in Tiananmen Square, President Bush stood aside and made no statement, allowing Deng Xiaoping to send in the troops and suppress the movement, once again causing the peaceful transformation of the CCP to fail.

In the 2000s, President Clinton fantasized that economic assistance would peacefully transform the CCP. He granted China permanent Most-Favored-Nation status, but the result was only to fatten Jiang Zemin’s regime, with no emergence of freedom or democracy.

President Trump attempted to use economic sanctions to overwhelm Xi Jinping and change the U.S.–China trade imbalance, but after two years the trade deficit not only failed to decline, it increased, growing ever larger.

President Biden chose not to pursue accountability for the pandemic and let Xi Jinping off the hook. He also stood aside and failed to support Xi’s internal opponents, enabling Xi to secure an unprecedented third term and annihilate the opposition, making the peaceful transformation of the CCP even more difficult.

2. The Revival of Confucius and Laozi Has a Deep Foundation on the Mainland

American missteps caused one opportunity after another for peaceful transformation to be lost. However, the revival of Confucius and peaceful transformation have a deep popular foundation on the mainland. Confucius, with 2,500 years of influence, is invincible, while Maoist communism has long since lost popular support, despite Mao Zedong’s open campaigns to criticize Lin Biao and Confucius. After Mao, Confucius revived. In the 2000s, television programs featuring Yu Dan lecturing on Confucius sparked several years of nationwide enthusiasm. People across the country watched; no one was unfamiliar with Confucius and the Analects. Even prisoners invited Yu Dan to lecture on Confucius. However, Yu Dan spoke only of personal insights, focusing on individual moral cultivation and not addressing Confucius’s ideas on governing the state—appropriate for the lower levels but not for those in power. This was followed by the production of a film about Confucius, which Hu Jintao personally attended to encourage. The release of the Confucius film in 2000 further fueled the Confucius fever.

In 2011, the Confucius fever reached its peak. Hu Jintao approved the erection of a nine-ton (including the base), nine-meter-tall statue of Confucius beside the Tiananmen museum, marking the launch of a nationwide Confucius revival movement promoted by the CCP. However, the “supreme elder” Jiang Zemin sensed that the direction was wrong. Remembering Mao Zedong’s words during the 1974 anti-Confucius campaign—“If Confucius is brought back, the Communist Party will be finished”—and seeing Mao and Confucius as irreconcilable, Jiang Zemin forcefully ordered the statue dismantled. The revival of Confucius suffered a major setback. U.S. President George W. Bush turned a blind eye and let it happen. Xi Jinping then came to power and, out of gratitude for Hu Jintao’s full transfer of two chairmanships to him, offered Hu a small consolation by visiting Qufu in Shandong. It was not a pilgrimage to Confucius; Xi merely picked up a copy of the Analects and hypocritically said, “I must study and research this carefully.” In 2014, he also lectured at the Central Party School on “Confucian self-cultivation.” After that, he never mentioned Confucius again.

3. Taiwan’s Most Beautiful Scenery Is Its People

In the 2000s, a wave of mainland tourism to Taiwan emerged. Those who returned all praised Taiwan’s beautiful scenery and, even more, its people. Southern Metropolis Daily, published in Guangzhou, ran an article by a group of journalists titled “Taiwan’s Most Beautiful Scenery Is Its People,” praising Taiwanese as worthy descendants of Confucius—high in quality, moral, and widely admired on the mainland. Xi Jinping constantly speaks of “one country, two systems” and “military unification,” but when faced with such descendants of Confucius, ordering troops to open fire would cause soldiers’ hands to tremble, perhaps even turning their guns against him. Military unification lacks moral legitimacy and moral strength. The only path is for the mainland to learn from Taiwan, revive Confucius, and embrace the idea that “within the four seas, all are brothers,” after which Taiwan and the mainland would naturally reunite peacefully.

4. Re-erecting the Nine-Ton, Nine-Meter-Tall Statue of Confucius

The nine-ton, nine-meter-tall statue of Confucius erected by Hu Jintao ten years ago was torn down by Jiang Zemin and placed in cold storage in a museum. Now that Jiang Zemin has passed away, the obstacle has been removed, and the time is ripe to re-erect the Confucius statue. However, it is unlikely that Xi Jinping will do so; his earlier gestures were merely to placate Hu Jintao. Re-erecting the Confucius statue will require American involvement. Today, global affairs cannot proceed without American leadership. The United States could first propose to Xi Jinping that the Confucius statue be re-erected. If Xi refuses, the United States could offer to buy it and erect it in Washington, marking the official beginning of the Confucius revival. If Xi refuses to sell, the United States could simply commission a replica and erect it in Washington.

If the United States re-erects a Confucius statue, Confucius and Mao are fundamentally incompatible. Confucius’s saying, “If there is fault on all sides, the fault lies with me,” would inevitably trigger a wave of criticism of Mao. Mao would be rejected by the Party and abandoned, and Xi Jinping would be forced to step down, fulfilling Mao’s own words: “If Confucius is brought back, the Communist Party will be finished.” With the mainland abandoning Mao, Xi, and the Party, Confucius would be revived, and peaceful reunification with Taiwan would naturally follow.