Chinese President Xi Jinping renewed his long-standing pledge to bring Taiwan under Beijing’s thumb in a speech marking the 130th birthday of late Communist leader Mao Zedong.
“The overall reunification of our motherland is the overall trend, the true purpose, and the common aspiration of the people,” the 70-year-old said on Tuesday, according to the South China Morning Post. “Our homeland must be reunited, and it will definitely be reunited.”
Taiwan has operated as a self-governing island since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949, with its own government, currency and army.
Beijing has long maintained that Taiwan is part of China and Xi has kept military force on the table to bring about reunification, although he reportedly told President Biden last month that his priority was to peacefully incorporate the island.
Xi Jinping voiced opposition to any international efforts to separate China from Taiwan. ZUMAPRESS.com
For decades, the US has adhered to the so-called “One China” policy, which acknowledges Beijing’s claim to the island but does not recognize it.
Meanwhile, officials in Washington have kept the specter of military intervention on the table if China tries to invade.
Biden has repeatedly suggested that the US would take military action if China attacked Taiwan, only for the White House to repeatedly back some of those suggestions.
Taiwan is expected to hold its presidential election next month. Brennan O’Connor/ZUMA / SplashNews.com
“Yes, if in fact, there is an unprecedented attack,” Biden told CBS’ “60 Minutes” in September 2022 when asked if the US would defend Taiwan.
During Tuesday’s speech in Beijing, Xi also hailed Mao as a “spiritual treasure.”
Ironically, Mao had Xi’s father expelled from the Chinese Communist Party, while the future leader was sent to work in the countryside during the Cultural Revolution of the late 1960s. Xi was finally accepted back into the fold of the CCP at the 10th time of asking in the mid-1970s.
China has been building up its military at a brisk clip. AFP/Getty Images
Taiwan is set to hold presidential elections in January, and Western officials have expressed concern that the CCP could interfere in the vote.
Incumbent President Tsai Ing-wen, whose Democratic Progressive Party has supported Taiwanese nationalism and close ties with the US, is term-limited and therefore unable to run for re-election as president.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
