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China on Taiwan: Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday ‘vowed’ that he would ‘not allow anyone, in any way, to secede Taiwan from China’. China’s official news agency Xinhua has given this information. This statement by Xi Jinping comes at a time when Taiwan is going to elect a new leader in a few days. Despite strong objections by the Taipei government, China considers Taiwan part of its own. It has intensified military and political pressure to assert its sovereignty claims.
According to Reuters The island nation of Taiwan is going to hold presidential and parliamentary elections on January 13. How the country handles its relationship with China is a key issue in the election campaign. Addressing a seminar to mark the 130th birthday of former Chinese leader Mao Zedong, Xi Jinping said of Taiwan that ‘unification of the motherland is inevitable and cannot be stopped.’ Senior party officials said, ‘Motherland must be united again.’
There is no mention of ‘use of force’
Xi Jinping said China should deepen integration between the two sides, promote the peaceful development of relations across the Taiwan Strait and ‘prevent Taiwan from being separated from China in any way.’ The report makes no mention of the use of force against Taiwan. However, China has never ruled out this possibility. This too has no mention of upcoming elections.
‘Taiwan independence means war’
China says Taiwan’s election is an internal Chinese matter but the islanders face a choice between war and peace, and any attempt at Taiwanese independence means war. In the past year and a half, China has organized two major exercises around Taiwan. China frequently sends warships and fighter jets into the Taiwan Strait.
(This news is not edited by the NDTV team. It is published directly from the syndicate feed.)