China wants peaceful’reunification’ with Taiwan: Following weeks of military exercises and war simulations by Beijing close to the island. A Chinese government official stated on Wednesday that China prepare to use every possible effort to work toward a peaceful “reunification” with Taiwan.
Taiwan, which is democratically run, is considered part of China. Taiwan’s administration opposes China’s sovereignty claims and says only island citizens can decide its fate.
Since early last month, when US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei, China has been conducting maneuvers close to Taiwan. Including shooting missiles into the seas around the island.
Before next month’s once every five years Communist Party congress, Ma Xiaoguang, a spokeswoman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said during a press conference in Beijing that China prepared to exert the maximum amount of effort to accomplish peaceful “reunification.”
Ma said, “The homeland must be reunified and will undoubtedly be reunified.”
He continued by saying that China’s commitment to defending its borders is strong.
China has put out a “one nation, two systems” approach for Taiwan. Similar to the plan to retake control of the former British colony of Hong Kong in 1997.
Ma suggested Taiwan establish a “social framework different from the mainland” to defend their way of life, including religious freedoms. Still, it was “under the premise of preserving national sovereignty, security, and development interests.”
According to surveys, the idea has practically no popular support. All major Taiwanese political parties reject it. Especially since Beijing implemented a national security legislation in Hong Kong in 2020 amid anti-government and anti-China protests.
China has never renounced using force to annex Taiwan. And in 2005 it adopted laws justifying military action if it succeeds or is about to.
Since Tsai Ing-wen assumed power in 2016, China has refused to communicate with her, claiming that she is a separatist. However, she has consistently offered to speak with you on the terms of equality and respect for one another.
However, in 2015, Ma Ying-jeou, Tsai’s predecessor, met Chinese President Xi Jinping in Singapore.
Qiu Kaiming, chief of the research division of the party’s Taiwan Work Office, said at the same press conference that the Xi-Ma meeting demonstrated their “strategic flexibility” towards Taiwan.
That “shown to the world that Chinese people are completely intelligent and capable of addressing our own issues on both sides of the Strait,” he said.
According to Taiwan’s government, the People’s Republic of China’s claims to sovereignty over the island is invalid since it has never been under its control.