In August 2022, the State Council published the white paper The Taiwan Question and China’s Reunification in the New Era. It states: “We do not promise to renounce the use of force, and we reserve the option of taking all necessary measures.” The same sentence adds that this is directed at outside interference and at “a very small number of Taiwan independence separatists,” not at the people of Taiwan, and that non-peaceful means would be “a last resort.”