NEW DELHI: China will surely be unified with Taiwan in the future and we will oppose anyone standing in the way of reunification, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Tuesday during an event to commemorate the 130th birth anniversary of Mao Zedong.
Xi’s remarks come less than a month before Taiwanese voters elect the island nation’s next president, according to a South China Morning Post report.
“The complete reunification of our motherland is an overall trend, a righteous cause, and the common aspiration of the people. Our motherland must be reunified, and it will surely be reunified,” Xi said in his speech delivered at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.“We firmly oppose anyone using any means to separate Taiwan from China,” Xi said, in an apparent reference to the US, which has repeatedly asserted that it will come to the defence of the island nation in case Beijing launches an invasion.
Faced with a sluggish economic recovery at home, Xi has tried to divert attention by making increasingly provocative statements regarding the South China Sea dispute and Taiwan reunification.
During the recent bilateral talks with US president Joe Biden in San Francisco, Xi reportedly bluntly told Biden that Beijing would reunify Taiwan with mainland China but that the timing has not yet been decided.
Xi’s remarks come less than a month before Taiwanese voters elect the island nation’s next president, according to a South China Morning Post report.
“The complete reunification of our motherland is an overall trend, a righteous cause, and the common aspiration of the people. Our motherland must be reunified, and it will surely be reunified,” Xi said in his speech delivered at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing.“We firmly oppose anyone using any means to separate Taiwan from China,” Xi said, in an apparent reference to the US, which has repeatedly asserted that it will come to the defence of the island nation in case Beijing launches an invasion.
Faced with a sluggish economic recovery at home, Xi has tried to divert attention by making increasingly provocative statements regarding the South China Sea dispute and Taiwan reunification.
During the recent bilateral talks with US president Joe Biden in San Francisco, Xi reportedly bluntly told Biden that Beijing would reunify Taiwan with mainland China but that the timing has not yet been decided.
Xi told Biden in a group meeting attended by a dozen American and Chinese officials that China’s preference is to take Taiwan peacefully, not by force, officials said.
The strategic rivalry between Beijing and Washington has been high on the party’s agenda in recent years.
“We must work to enable our party to adhere to its original mission … maintain vitality and vigour, and ensure that our party never degenerates, never changes its colour, and never loses its flavour,” he said, while hailing Mao’s teachings.
Earlier this year, Xi had told cadres to prepare for the “worst-case and most extreme scenario”, with Beijing and Washington struggling to manage their disputes over issues such as Taiwan, the South China Sea, technology and trade.