Chinese leader Xi Jinping promised Taiwan’s reunification with mainland China during his year-end speech on Sunday.
Tensions between China and Taiwan remain high, and Taiwanese voters will participate in the island’s elections on January 13. Xi has repeatedly affirmed China’s position that Taiwan is part of China and must be reunified, by force if necessary.
“All Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Strait must be united by a common sense of purpose and share the glory of the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation,” Xi said in Sunday’s speech.
The speech was the second time in a matter of days that Xi addressed the Taiwan issue. Xi also vowed to reunify Taiwan on Tuesday during a symposium in Beijing to mark the 130th anniversary of the birth of Mao Zedong, the founding father of communist China.
“Complete reunification of the motherland is an irresistible trend,” Xi said at the event, adding that China will “resolutely prevent anyone from dividing” the two sides.
Meanwhile, in Taiwan, residents are preparing to go to the polls. Current opinion polls show residents favor independence candidate Lai Ching-te.
Xi Jinping reiterates that China and Taiwan must “reunify,” even if that means using the military to do so. AP
Polls show Taiwan voters prefer independence candidate Lai Ching-te AP
China has bristled at any international hint of Taiwan independence. Xi’s military conducted weeks of live-fire exercises around the island in 2022 after then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., traveled there.
Taiwan split from mainland China in 1949, when democratic forces fled there after losing a civil war against the Chinese Communist Party.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn