Beijing asserts that it will act decisively to thwart the island’s efforts to secede.
Chinese Premier Li Keqiang has stated that Beijing will continue to pursue peaceful reunification with the self-governing island while upholding Taiwan’s status as a part of its territory.
“We should accelerate the process of China’s peaceful reunification,” Li said in a report to the roughly 3,000 delegates of the National People’s Congress, which began on Sunday in Beijing.
He reaffirmed that the “One China principle,” which asserts that Taiwan is a part of China, is something to which the Beijing administration is still committed.
The Chinese government’s resolve “to take firm steps to resist (“Taiwan independence”),” the premier emphasised.
In a brief statement in response to Li’s remarks, Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council reaffirmed that the island was independent of Beijing and urged China to “pragmatically handle cross-strait matters with an attitude of reason, equality, and mutual respect.”
Although having its own government since 1949, Taiwan has never formally proclaimed its independence from China. China views the island as a part of its territory and is adamantly opposed to Taipei’s connections with the US, which supports Taipei’s bid for sovereignty and provides the administration of President Tsai Ing-wen with cutting-edge armaments. Also, Washington has pledged to defend Taiwan in the event that China uses force against it.
Since Nancy Pelosi, the then-US House Speaker, visited Taipei in August despite warnings from the Chinese government, tensions in the region have remained high. China launched the largest military exercises in the history of the Taiwan Strait in response to what it described as a “serious provocation” and imposed trade restrictions on the island.
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Beijing will “continue to seek for peaceful reunification with Taiwan,” Chinese leader Xi Jinping stated in 2017. However, he added, Beijing “would never guarantee to abandon the use of force, and we reserve the option of taking all necessary measures.”
General Mike Minihan, the commander of the US Air Mobility Command, cautioned his staff in a note at the end of January that a battle between Washington and Beijing over Taiwan might start as early as 2025.
