On March 5, China’s National People’s Congress, the nation’s highest legislative body, commenced a week of meetings aimed at providing insights into the government’s plans for the upcoming year. In addressing Taiwan, a self-ruling island democracy that China claims as its territory, Chinese Premier Li Qiang reiterated the official stance on “reunification” as part of the “overall strategy.” Chinese President Xi Jinping said in his New Year’s address that reunification is inevitable.

Straight Arrow News contributor Peter Zeihan contends that, in the China-Taiwan dynamic, not much has fundamentally changed, except for America’s ability to anticipate the unpredictable actions of Chairman Xi Jinping. Zeihan also revisits some of his 2023 predictions, acknowledging areas where he was mistaken.

Excerpted from Peter’s March 6 “Zeihan on Geopolitics” newsletter:

This is the third episode of our new series ‘Question Time with Peter Zeihan!’ Every week or so I’ll be sitting down with one of the team members from Zeihan on Geopolitics and have them dish out some rapid-fire questions from the ‘Ask Peter’ forum. Kyle, our Social Media Manager, will be joining me for episode three today.

In this episode, we’ll be discussing the complex relationship between China and Taiwan, China’s struggle with youth unemployment, and a look back at some of my predictions from 2023.