Taiwan rejects peaceful reunification with China
2023.03.05 01:53
Taiwan rejects peaceful reunification with China
By Kristina Sobol
Budrigannews.com – Taiwan responded by saying that Beijing should respect the Taiwanese people’s commitment to democracy and freedom. On Sunday, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang promised “peaceful reunification” with Taiwan as well as resolute steps to oppose Taiwan independence.
As a response to what it terms “collusion” between Taipei and Washington, Taiwan’s primary international backer and arms supplier, China, which claims democratic Taiwan as its own territory, has increased its military activity near the island over the past three years.
In response to Nancy Pelosi, the then-President of the United States House of Representatives,’s visit to Taipei in August, China staged war games around Taiwan.
Li said Beijing upholds the “one China” principle, which states that Taiwan is a part of China, at the opening of the annual meeting of China’s parliament. However, he did not directly threaten military action.
He told the roughly 3,000 delegates at Beijing’s enormous Great Hall of the People that the government should implement our party’s policy of “resolving the Taiwan question” and “take resolute steps to oppose Taiwan independence and promote reunification.”
“We should advance the process of China’s peaceful reunification and promote the peaceful development of cross-Strait relations.”
The majority of Taiwanese people have shown no interest in being ruled by China, an autocratic nation that has never shied away from using force to take control of the island.
In separate comments about defense, Li said that the military should be more prepared for combat, but he didn’t say anything about Taiwan.
China’s “reaffirmation” of China’s Taiwan policy, according to Taiwan’s China-policy-making Mainland Affairs Council, should force Beijing to acknowledge that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait are “not subordinate to each other.”
Using Taiwan’s official name, it stated that China ought to “respect the Taiwanese people’s commitment to the core concepts of holding fast to the sovereignty, democracy, and freedom of the Republic of China.”
It added that China should approach cross-strait issues pragmatically, rationally, equally, and with mutual respect to foster healthy interactions.
Tsai Ing-wen, the president of Taiwan, has repeatedly offered talks with China, but Beijing has rejected them because it believes she is a separatist.
The government of Taiwan strongly refutes Beijing’s claims to sovereignty and asserts that only the island’s 23 million residents can determine their own future.
Tensions with China are likely to dominate campaigning for the presidential and parliamentary elections that Taiwan holds in the early years of 2024.
