Before the National Day on October 10, the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) air crafts intruded the southwest airspace of Taiwan’s Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ), and the number of sorties repeatedly reached a new high. As the commander-in-chief of the armed forces, President Tsai Ing-wen expressed in the ruling DPP Party’s central standing committee meeting yesterday that "I want to warn the Beijing authorities, be restrained from going too far and accidentally sparking conflict across the Strait.” Minister of National Defense Chiu Kuo-cheng stated in the Legislative Yuan that the so-called "accidentally sparking conflict" is not necessarily a shooting, it may be "a military aircraft approaching." We will strictly require our fighter pilots remain calm. He emphasized that "Taiwan will not make any provocations, and we will absolutely abide by it and not fire the first shot."

According to statistics from the Ministry of National Defense (MND), the total number of aircraft intruding ADIZ last year reached more than 380 sorties, and there have been more than 600 sorties up to early October this year. From October 1 to 5, there were 150 sorties, almost all of which were fighter jets, which attracted international attention. After President Joe Biden of the United States stated for the first time at the White House on October 5 that he had discussed Taiwan issues with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, and both agreed to abide by the Taiwan Agreements, then the PLA’s air crafts did not appear yesterday.

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In answering the media question about Taiwan, President Joe Biden of the United States brought up the so-called “Taiwan agreement”. Mr. Biden said that he has spoken with Chinese President Xi Jinping about Taiwan, and they agree to abide by the Taiwan agreement. "We made it clear that I don't think he should be doing anything other than abiding by the agreement." Since its content is unknown to the outside world, “the Taiwan agreement” fueled wide speculation.

Facing with repeated questioning, the White House finally came up with a formal response. White House press secretary Jen Psaki clarified during a White House press briefing that Mr. Biden had spoken with Mr. Xi previously and told Mr. Xi that the United States will handle its relations with Taiwan in accordance with the Taiwan Relations Act (TRA) and abide by the TRA. It is finally clear what Biden meant with the Taiwan agreement is the Taiwan Relations Act.

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The Chinese Communist Party held a meeting to commemorate the 110th anniversary of the 1911 republican revolution. It was expected that Chinese President Xi Jinping would give an important talk. However, regarding the issue of Taiwan, Mr. Xi cited the reunification theory of Sun Yat-sen from a hundred years ago in his speech as a basis and emphasized that the historic task of China's reunification must be realized and can certainly be achieved. No new or specific paths have been proposed. Peaceful reunification, “One Country, Two Systems,” as well as the "One China” principle and the “1992 Consensus” are still floating high in the air. In contrast to the heightening talks of reunification by military force from people in the mainland, Xi's remarks are meant to assuage internal pressures within the mainland supporting reunification by military force.

Mr. Xi did not propose a practical path to explore the "Taiwan plan" for the "One Country, Two Systems" formula like he did in 2019. He only made principled and programmatic reminders. In this regard, Xi is revising his once overly optimistic “Taiwan Plan.”

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