“Reunification” – China’s Xi Jinping Threatens Taiwan with Military Action

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Chinese head of state and party leader Xi Jinping has threatened Taiwan with military action. China is committed to peaceful ‘unification’, ‘but we will never commit ourselves to giving up the use of force,’ the president said Sunday at the start of the Communist Party Congress in Beijing, which only takes place every five years. The Chinese leadership retains the “option to take all necessary measures”.

These targeted foreign interference and a “small number” of pro-independence forces, “not the compatriots in Taiwan,” Xi Jinping stressed. “The full reunification of the homeland must be achieved and can be achieved.”

Taiwan rejected new threats
The communist leadership sees the democratic island republic only as part of the People’s Republic and threatens to conquer it. Tensions had escalated recently after China stepped up military activities near the island to increase pressure on Taiwan.

Taiwan rejected the new threats. “Confrontation is not an option for either side,” a spokesman for President Tsai Ing-wen said in Taipei on Sunday. Taiwan is a “sovereign and independent country,” the spokesman said. The 23 million Taiwanese push for democracy and freedom and firmly reject the unification concepts of “one country, two systems” in Hong Kong. Also, the Taiwanese people will not compromise their territorial integrity. Beijing sees the democratic island republic as part of the People’s Republic, while Taiwan sees itself as independent.

Xi warned of ‘potential dangers’
Addressing about 2,300 delegates at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Xi warned of “potential dangers” and difficult times and appealed to those who listened to “prepare for the worst cases”: and be prepared, strong winds, heavy seas and even dangerous storms.” Xi also called for resolutely following his party leadership to form a “modern socialist country” with “socialism with Chinese characteristics”. The next five years will be crucial. Internationally, the party leader saw “enormous risks and challenges” as well as “global changes not seen in a century”.

Xi, 69, has set China on an increasingly authoritarian course that prioritizes security, state control of the economy in the name of “shared prosperity”, more assertive diplomacy, a stronger military and the takeover of democratically ruled Taiwan. Four years ago, he also abolished presidential term limits, paving the way for a third five-year term as general secretary of the ruling Communist Party. Xi Jinping is expected to seek a new term.

While the 69-year-old ignores the previously respected term limits, the Politburo is being filled for age reasons. The change of personnel in the Communist leadership also preludes to the next session of the People’s Congress in March, when a new prime minister is installed and a new government is formed.

Still Zero Covid Strategy in China
He praised China’s “necessary” strict zero-covid strategy, which has produced “huge, encouraging results” in both the fight against the pandemic and economic development. As the rest of the world tries to live with the virus, China continues to pursue a zero-tolerance goal — with lockdowns, mass testing, quarantines and contact tracing slowing the economy.

The focus of the party congress, which only takes place every five years, is the expansion of Xi Jinping’s power and his reelection to a third term. The delegates should anchor his ideology even more deeply as a guideline in the party’s constitution and appoint a new central committee.

The congress is taking place amid massive security measures, which were further tightened Thursday after a rare protest by a man near a bridge holding a widespread banner against “dictator Xi Jinping”.

Observers make critical inventory
After Xi Jinping’s ten-year tenure, observers have struck a critical balance: “We have moved from collective leadership to autocracy, from term limits to lifelong leadership, from achievement to loyalty, from private to public sector, from wealth to shared prosperity, from globalization to technical autonomy,” says Richard McGregor of the Lowy Institute in Australia. Ultimately, the coexistence between China and the US has also become a “confrontation”.

Chinese political scientist Wu Qiang saw growing isolation as China closed its borders due to its zero-covid policy and relied on self-reliance. “I believe 40 years of reform and opening up have come to an end,” said the lecturer, who had to leave Beijing’s renowned Tsinghua University due to critical analysis. “China has become strong through globalization and reform and opening up and has kept this power, so it won’t be easy to break away.” But ideologically, the reform and opening-up policies have been abandoned.

Source: Krone

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