Xi Jinping has been in power for 14 years. In the early years of China’s reform and opening-up, the Chinese economy experienced rapid growth, people’s living standards continued to improve, and society was full of hope. However, today’s China faces growing economic challenges. The real estate market is in decline, young people are struggling to find jobs, private businesses lack confidence, and ordinary citizens are facing increasingly heavy financial burdens. Don’t these realities deserve serious reflection from those in power?
A country’s development should not be measured by how many grand political slogans its leaders deliver. It should be measured by how much money ordinary people have in their pockets, whether elderly people can enjoy a secure retirement, whether young people can find employment, and whether ordinary families can live with dignity.
One particularly heartbreaking issue is the lack of adequate pension support for elderly people in rural China. Many rural residents have worked hard throughout their entire lives, yet when they grow old, their monthly pensions are often only around 100 to 200 yuan. In some areas, this is not even enough to cover their basic living expenses.
By comparison, farmers in Taiwan benefit from social security arrangements and the Old Farmers’ Allowance, with noticeably different levels of financial protection. Of course, the exact amounts depend on different systems and eligibility requirements.
Let me ask a simple question: Don’t the farmers who have spent their entire lives working the land of China deserve better retirement security?
On the one hand, elderly people in rural China struggle to make ends meet with pensions worth only a few hundred yuan. On the other hand, the Chinese government constantly talks about reunifying Taiwan and insists that the people of Taiwan should accept the mainland’s political system.
What kind of logic is this?
The people of Taiwan should have the right to decide for themselves what kind of political and social system they want to live under. A system that is truly confident in itself does not need military threats or political slogans to convince others. It should earn respect through people’s happiness, social justice, economic prosperity, and civil liberties.
The true strength of a country is not measured by how much power its leader holds, how many advanced weapons its military possesses, or how loudly it repeats slogans about national reunification.
True national strength means providing rural elderly people with adequate pensions, giving young people opportunities for employment, allowing entrepreneurs to operate their businesses with confidence, and ensuring that ordinary citizens enjoy dignity, freedom, and security.
If a government cannot even solve the basic livelihood problems of its own people, yet spends its time thinking about how to change the way others live, isn’t that completely putting the cart before the horse?
Finally, I want to make one thing clear:
The Chinese people need more than political slogans. They need real improvements in their daily lives.
The people of Taiwan need neither threats nor intimidation. They need peace, dignity, and respect.
A government should first ensure that its own people can live with dignity and security before talking about national development.
A government that cannot ensure the well-being of its own people has no right to treat political slogans about reunification as an achievement of good governance.