Beijing:
China’s President Xi Jinping stated on Saturday that “peaceful reunification” with Taiwan “will be and can be realised”, as tensions in between Beijing and Taipei soared days following record numbers of Chinese warplanes crossed into the democratic island’s air defence zone.
Self-governed Taiwan, which has under no circumstances formally declared independence, lives beneath the continual threat of invasion by China, which views the island as its territory and has vowed to one day seize it, by force if required.
“Realising national reunification by peaceful means best serves the interests of the nation as a whole including our brethren in Taiwan,” Xi stated in a speech marking the 110th anniversary of a revolution that ended millennia of imperial rule and led to the founding of the Republic of China.
A substantial portrait of Sun Yat-sen, the western-educated medical professional who founded the Republic of China, which remains the formal name of Taiwan, towered more than the stage as Xi spoke.
Sun led the 1911 toppling of the Qing empire, seen as the forerunner to the eventual Communist revolution, producing him one of the handful of figures revered on each sides of the Taiwan Strait.
“The complete reunification of our country will be and can be realised,” Xi stated.
He also warned against foreign interference in Taiwan following a Pentagon official confirmed US specific operations forces have been quietly instruction Taiwanese troops for months.
“The Taiwan issue is purely China’s internal affair and does not allow any external interference,” he stated.
“Nobody should underestimate the Chinese people’s firm resolution, staunch will and formidable capacity to defend their national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he stated.
Increasing stress
Beijing has ramped up stress on Taipei given that the 2016 election of President Tsai Ing-wen, who views the island as “already independent”.
“Taiwan independence is the biggest obstacle to the reunification of the motherland and a serious hidden danger,” Xi warned. “Those who forget their origins, betray the motherland, or split the country never meet a good end, and will inevitably be spurned by the people and put on trial by history.”
Tsai is scheduled to speak Sunday at an occasion commemorating the 1911 revolution, one of the handful of events that unite China and Taiwan.
Taiwan’s defence minister stated Wednesday that military tensions with China have been at their highest in 4 decades, following about 150 Chinese warplanes — a record quantity — made incursions into Taiwan’s air defence zone in current days.
Xi’s comments come following Britain last week sent a warship by way of the Taiwan Strait, difficult Beijing’s claim to the sensitive waterway, and a French delegation visited Taiwan in spite of warnings from China.
On Friday, Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian rebuked comments made by French delegation member Alain Richard, who referred to Taiwan as a “country” for the duration of a speech on Thursday.
Zhao stated Richard, a former French defence minister, made the remarks “out of self-interest to undermine relations between China and France”, adding that his use of the term “country” had “blatantly violated” international practice.
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