No one can stop China’s “reunification” with Taiwan, Chinese President Xi Jinping said in his New Year’s speech on Tuesday, setting out a clear warning to what Beijing sees as pro-independence forces inside and outside the island of 23 million people.
Last year, Beijing increased military pressure near Taiwan, sending warships and planes almost daily into the waters and airspace around the island in what Taiwanese officials see as a progressive effort to “normalize” the presence Chinese military.
China considers democratically governed Taiwan its own territory. But Taiwan’s government rejects Beijing’s claims and says only its people can decide its future and that Beijing should respect the choice of the Taiwanese people.
“The people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait are one family. No one can break our family ties and no one can stop the historic trend of national reunification,” Xi said in a speech televised by Chinese state broadcaster CCTV.
In his New Year’s speech last year, Xi said China’s “reunification” with Taiwan is inevitable and that people on both sides “must be united by a common sense of purpose and share the glory of the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.” “.
Tensions have remained high all year in the sensitive Taiwan Strait, especially after Lai Ching-te, considered a “separatist” by Beijing, became the island’s last president in May.
Earlier this month, China organized a large buildup of naval forces around Taiwan and in the East and South China Seas after Lai stopped in Hawaii and the U.S. territory of Guam on a Pacific voyage criticized by Beijing.
China, which has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, held two rounds of war games around the island this year, saying they were warnings against “separatist acts” and vowing to take further action if necessary. necessary.
US arms sales to Taiwan, permitted by the Taiwan Relations Act, have also continued to strain Beijing’s ties with Washington.
China has periodically warned the United States against any military ties with Taiwan and has imposed sanctions on military suppliers and their executives.
(Reporting by Beijing Newsroom; Editing by Ros Russell)
