The threats come after China’s major military exercises in recent days on the island’s perimeter in response to a visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
Direct threats to Taiwan independence supporters from China unleashes Beijing. China vows to leave “no leeway” for independence supporters of Taiwan, stressing that “the use of military force” to retake the island remains on the table as a “last resort”.
The threats come after China’s major military exercises in recent days on the island’s perimeter in response to a visit by the speaker of the US House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi.
The visit was seen by Beijing as a provocation, as the United States has vowed to have no formal relationship with Taiwan.
The Taiwan Affairs Bureau, a Chinese government agency, released a “white paper” today detailing how Beijing plans to retake the island, primarily through economic incentives.
“We are willing to create a vast space (of cooperation) to achieve peaceful reunification,” the Beijing document said.
“But we will leave no room for separatist actions aimed at the pseudo-independence of Taiwan in any form.”
China considers Taiwan, a republic of 23 million people that has pursued its own independent path since the end of the Chinese Civil War in 1949, to be its province, which has not been able to be reunited with mainland China.
Red lines
In the intervening seven decades, the Communist military has not been able to recapture the island of Taiwan, which remains under the control of the Republic of China – the regime that ruled China and was defeated during the civil war.
“We make no promises that we will discourage the use of military force,” Beijing’s white paper, the first published on Taiwan since 2000, stressed.
“Military force will be used as a last resort, in case of emergency. We will be forced to take drastic measures against provocations by separatists or foreign powers if they violate our red lines.”
The white paper also promises economic prosperity with “reunification”.
China suggests strengthening cultural relations, relations in the fields of social welfare and health, or also encouraging further economic “integration” through “preferential policies.”
“With a strong homeland to rely on, our fellow Taiwanese will be stronger, more confident, more secure and more respected on the international stage,” the text promises.
More and more young Taiwanese have in recent years begun to develop an identity distinct from mainland China.
The trend is encouraged by Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen’s pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party, which took power in 2016.
“Challenge Visit”
Unlike the previous leadership, Tsai Ing-wen refuses to consider Taiwan and China as part of “one China”. This position led to a decisive deterioration of Taipei’s relations with Beijing.
Despite the tense conditions of recent days, Taiwan’s opposition politician Andrew Hsia Li-yan visited mainland China today to meet with businessmen and students from the island who are completing a quarantine regime in China.
A top diplomat and former head of Taiwan’s agency in charge of relations with mainland China, Andrew Hsia Li-yan is vice chairman of the Kuomintang (KMT), Taiwan’s other major anti-independence, pro-development party realistic relations with Beijing.
“Not only is this bad timing,” but “in addition, it is an insult to our military that spares no effort to protect our country,” Taiwan’s presidential party said on Facebook.
China considers the Taiwanese president’s party “autonomist”, as well as any person who publicly fights for independence or for the weakening of the Taiwanese Chinese identity.
The Chinese military has been conducting large-scale military exercises around Taiwan in recent days, with a scenario of a blockade of the island.
The drills were supposed to end on Sunday, but they continued this week. The Chinese military finally announced today that “all of the missions have been completed,” declaring their end.
Taiwan’s military conducted its own exercises yesterday as part of training to repel a Chinese attack on the island.
RES-EMP
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