Between the lines on Chinese strategy: "Using the pandemic to plot independence"

• Beijing now aims to block and delegitimize Taiwan's efforts abroad.

This new phrase, recently invoked by Chinese government officials, criticizes public health cooperation between Taiwan and foreign governments, and it casts those efforts as a cynical scheme to achieve independence rather than as genuine health initiatives.

What they're saying: On April 3, Zhu Fenglian at China's Taiwan Affairs Office denounced a recent statement of cooperation between Prague and Taipei.

• Taiwan's leaders "engaged in these little tricks, not for the health and well-being of the Taiwanese people, but rather to 'use the pandemic to plot independence,'" said Zhu. "The plot will not succeed."