As China prepared to mark its National Day holiday, it used the occasion to once again call for “reunification” with Taiwan and to flex its military might.
On the eve of National Day Monday, Chinese leader Xi Jinping reiterated his view that reunification was inevitable and essential for fulfilling goals of national rejuvenation. Just one day earlier, China carried out multiple missile firings that put Taiwan’s military on alert.
“It is an irreversible trend, a matter of justice, and it is in accordance with the popular will. No one can stop the march of history,” Xi said in his remarks.
Since its establishment on Oct. 1 in 1949, the People’s Republic of China or PRC has never ruled Taiwan, but it views the democratically governed island as its own territory and has vowed to bring the island under its control, by force if necessary.
On Tuesday, China will mark 75 years since the Communist Party defeated Kuomintang Nationalist forces, ending a bloody civil war. The Nationalists fled to Taiwan, which after decades of one-party rule by the Kuomintang eventually became a thriving democracy.
According to public opinion polls in Taiwan there is very little support for unification with China, regardless of whether it is as soon as possible or in the future.
“Taiwan is sacred territory for China. People on both sides of the Taiwan Strait have blood ties, and these family ties will always be stronger than others,” Xi said.
Xi’s call comes just one day after Taiwan’s Defense Ministry detected multiple waves of missile firings within China’s interior. Earlier last week, Beijing also test-fired an intercontinental ballistic missile into international waters, a drill the likes of which China has not conducted since the 1980s.
On Sunday, U.S. President Joe Biden approved $567 million in military support for Taiwan, the largest aid package America has granted the island. The funding will aid Taiwanese “military education and training” and allow for the speedy delivery of military articles, according to a statement from the White House.
Some material for this report was provided by Reuters and Agence France-Presse.
