official plans?
Ministry of Foreign Affairs - A policy of "one country, two systems" on Taiwan
On September 30, 1981, Ye Jianying, Chairman of the Standing Committee of China's National People's Congress, officially put forward a nine-point proposal for bringing about the peaceful reunification of the mainland and Taiwan. He said that "after China is reunified, Taiwan may become a special administrative region. It may enjoy a high degree of autonomy and may keep its military forces. The national government will not intervene in the local affairs of Taiwan." "Taiwan's current social and economic systems will remain unchanged, its way of life will not change, and its economic and cultural ties with foreign countries will not change.'
Deng Xiaoping's scientific concept of "one country, two systems" was advanced in light of Taiwan's realities. It both upholds China's state sovereignty and takes into full account the specific conditions of Taiwan. According to the concept of "one country, two systems", two systems will be practiced within the sovereign state of the People's Republic of China. On the premise of one China, the main body of the country will practice the socialist system, while the existing capitalist system and way of life in Taiwan will remain unchanged for a long period of time. This concept is highly flexible in that it both gives full expression to the principle of bringing about China's reunification and upholding its sovereignty and takes into full consideration the history and realities of Taiwan.
Two things to note: First, keeping the "capitalist system" and "way of life" does not imply keeping democracy. And, if I recall correctly, this was exactly the promise made to Hong Kong and Britain, with the special regime to be maintained until 2047. We all know how that worked out.
One Country, Two Systems - June 22-23, 1984
The Chinese Government is firm in its position, principles and policies on Hong Kong. We have stated on many occasions that after China resumes the exercise of its sovereignty over Hong Kong in 1997, Hong Kong's current social and economic systems will remain unchanged, its legal system will remain basically unchanged, its way of life and its status as a free port and an international trade and financial centre will remain unchanged and it can continue to maintain or establish economic relations with other countries and regions. We have also stated repeatedly that apart from stationing troops there, Beijing will not assign officials to the government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. This policy too will remain unchanged. We shall station troops there to safeguard our national security, not to interfere in Hong Kong's internal affairs. Our policies with regard to Hong Kong will remain unchanged for 50 years, and we mean this.
We are pursuing a policy of "one country, two systems". More specifically, this means that within the People's Republic of China, the mainland with its one billion people will maintain the socialist system, while Hong Kong and Taiwan continue under the capitalist system.
In fact, how HK was treated reminds us of the fable of the scorpion crossing the river: knowing how much it would put the lie to the one country, two systems appeal wrt Taiwan, and in the midst of trying to court Taiwanese public opinion, China's CCP still couldn't countenance anything like people making small decisions for themselves, even with the highly stacked "democracy" it had rigged in HK.
