Beijing does not exclude the use of force to resolve tensions with Taiwan, but only against supporters of the island’s independence and outside forces intervening, a Chinese Communist Party spokesman said.
He added that “peaceful reunification” is the country’s interest and “the number one option” for the Taiwan issue.
“We do not promise to renounce the use of force and reserve the possibility of taking all necessary measures against the interference of outside forces and the extremely small number of Taiwan’s pro-independence forces and their separatist activities,” asserted 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China spokesman Sun Yeli.
China reserves the right to use force over Taiwan as a last resort in compelling circumstances, though peaceful reunification is its first choice https://t.co/4qFbmWLJoi pic.twitter.com/bcTSQACTvT
— Al Jazeera English (@AJEnglish) October 15, 2022
China’s actions will not be directed against the people of Taiwan, as Beijing’s goal is to promote the process of the island’s peaceful reunification with mainland China, he continued.
“We will do everything possible to achieve peaceful reunification. Even if there is the slightest possibility of such reunification, we will carry it through to the end,” he said.
The spokesman stressed that a military solution to the issue is “the last resort,” he also accused “Taiwanese separatists” of carrying out provocations and “outside forces” of using Taiwan to contain China.
“This is against the interests of the people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait and leads to instability in the region. We hope our compatriots will understand that reunification is a good thing and that separatism is a road to nowhere. We hope they will also understand that they should not trust outsiders,” he concluded.
The situation surrounding Taiwan worsened following the visit to the island by the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Nancy Pelosi.
China, which considers Taiwan one of its provinces, condemned the visit, interpreting it as a step in U.S. support of the island’s separatism, and organized large-scale military exercises.
Official ties between Beijing and Taipei were severed in 1949 after the forces of the Nationalist Kuomintang Party, led by Chiang Kai-shek, suffered a defeat in the civil war against the Communist Party of China and moved to Taiwan.
Relations between Taiwan and mainland China were re-established only on a business and informal level in the late 1980s. The Chinese government’s fundamental policy towards Taiwan is peaceful reunification under the principle of “one country two systems”.
