XI JINPING: UNIFICATION OF TAIWAN AND CHINA IS INEVITABLE
▶ President refuses to rule out force to reclaim island from separatists
Taiwan’s unification with China is inevitable and Beijing will not rule out using force to bring it back into the fold, President Xi Jinping said yesterday.
China still regards democratic Taiwan as part of its territory, despite the sides having separate rule since the end of a civil war on the mainland in 1949.
“China must and will be united, which is an inevitable requirement for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese people in the new era,” Mr Xi said.
“We make no promise to give up the use of military force and reserve the option of taking all means” against Taiwanese separatists and forces that interfere with reunification.
Mr Xi made the comments in a speech commemorating the 40th anniversary of a message sent to Taiwan in 1979, in which Beijing called for unification and an end to military confrontation.
He described unification under a “one country, two systems” approach that would protect “the interests and well-being of Taiwanese compatriots”.
Taiwan considers itself a sovereign state, with its own currency, political and judicial systems, but has never declared independence from China.
Relations have been strained for the past two years since the election of President Tsai Ing-wen, who has refused to acknowledge Beijing’s stance that the island is part of China.
On Tuesday, Ms Tsai told Beijing that Taiwan’s people would never give up the freedoms not seen on the mainland.
Beijing “must respect the insistence of 23 million people for freedom and democracy” and “must use peaceful and equal terms to handle our differences”, she said.
China has proposed adopting the one country, two systems policy introduced in Hong Kong after the British handed the city back to China in 1997.
But some say the erosion of civil liberties in Hong Kong sets a negative precedent for Taiwan.
“They are gobbling up Hong Kong, not just politically but culturally and economically too,” said Claudia Mo, a pro-democracy Hong Kong politician.
She said that few would be won over by Mr Xi’s suggestion that Hong Kong and Macau could be a blueprint for Taiwan. “It’s so obvious that they’re trying to assimilate Hong Kong into wider mainland China in every way,” Ms Mo said. “How would any Taiwanese think that’s going to work for them?”
But others believed Taiwanese will slowly come on board.
“People’s hearts won’t change in one day but I think one country, two systems is a way to do it,” said Lam, 55, a construction worker in Hong Kong. “The unification might take one, two, or even three more generations to achieve.”
Last October, tens of thousands of Taiwan campaigners held the first large-scale protest calling for an outright independence vote since the island became a democracy more than 20 years ago.
But some in Taiwan say worsening relations with Beijing have harmed business. Cuts to pensions and fewer public holidays add to frustration over a stagnant economy where salaries have fallen behind the rise in the cost of living.
Last year, Taiwan’s ruling party suffered a defeat in midterm elections, causing Ms Tsai to quit as leader of the ruling Democratic Progressive Party.
The main opposition Kuomintang, which oversaw a thaw with Beijing before Ms Tsai took office in 2016, made gains.
Beijing has tried to diminish Taiwan’s presence on the international stage in recent years. It has successfully put pressure on global companies to list Taiwan as part of China on their company websites.