China’s Xi says Taiwan must be unified with mainland

Bloomberg

Chinese President Xi Jinping suggested that mainland China and Taiwan enter into “in-depth democratic consultations” and work towards unification, in the clearest sign yet that he wants to settle the 70-year dispute during his tenure.
“China must and will be united, which is an inevitable requirement for the historical rejuvenation of the Chinese nation in the new era,” Xi told a gathering in Beijing to mark the 40th anniversary of a landmark Beijing overture to Taipei after the US and China established relations. The two sides have been ruled separately since Chiang Kai-shek moved his Nationalist government across the Taiwan Strait during the Chinese civil war.
Xi also sent a warning to Taiwan independence advocates, who include supporters of Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen. “It’s a legal fact that both sides of the strait belong to one China, and cannot be changed by anyone or any force,” Xi said. While the president said “Chinese don’t beat Chinese,” he noted that the mainland was “not committed to renouncing the use of force.”
The speech closely tied the Taiwan issue to Xi’s central pledge to make China a global power by 2050. While he stopped short of issuing a firm deadline, his remarks went further than his 2013 statement saying the political impasse between the two sides “cannot be passed on from generation to generation.”
Since coming to power six years ago, Xi has employed both incentives and pressure to steer Taiwan towards unification. In 2015, he held an unprecedented leader-to-leader meeting with then-Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou. After the island voted in 2016 to elect Tsai he cut off ties and launched an effort to isolate her government.
On Wednesday, he suggested that “political parties and people from all walks of life on both sides of the strait elect representatives” to engage in talks on the future of their relationship, saying an agreement that both sides belong to “one China” must be upheld in negotiations.
“The difference in systems is not an obstacle to reunification or an excuse for separation,”
Xi said. Tsai rejected the overture, saying that orderly exchanges should be carried out between the two governments and that Taiwanese people opposed one country, two systems.
“We are willing to sit down and talk, but as a democratic nation all political negotiations relating to cross-strait relations must be undertaken with the authorisation and supervision of the people of Taiwan and must proceed across the strait under the government-to-government model,” Tsai said.
This October also marks the 70th anniversary of the Communist Party’s takeover of China, an occasion that Xi has been using to solidify his stewardship after repealing presidential term limits last year.
On January 1, 1979, China stopped decades of regular artillery bombardment of Taiwan-controlled islands off the mainland.