Analysis: Xi Jinping's path to greater power goes through Taiwan

Katsuji Nakazawa is a Tokyo-based senior staff and editorial writer at Nikkei. He spent seven years in China as a correspondent and later as China bureau chief. He was the 2014 recipient of the Vaughn-Ueda International Journalist prize.

At the end of October, many foreign companies that operate in Taiwan began preparing evacuation plans in case a war broke out. The debate at the recently-closed Chinese Communist Party national congress had a large part to do with this trend.