China will inevitably bring Taiwan under its control, says mainland Chinese official

Beijing’s growing economic, political and diplomatic power means it is achieving an “overwhelming advantage” in bringing self-ruled Taiwan to heel and time is on mainland China’s side, a senior official said in a comments published on Monday.

Beijing has never renounced the use of force to bring what it considers a wayward province and sacred Chinese territory under its rule.

Writing in the influential state-run newspaper the Study Times, Liu Junchuan, who heads the liaison office of the mainland’s policymaking Taiwan Affairs Office, said it was inevitable Taiwan would come under the mainland’s control.

The mainland’s economic growth means its economy now far surpasses Taiwan’s and the trend would only continue, Liu wrote in the paper, which is published by the Central Party School that trains rising Communist Party officials.

“The swift development and massive changes in the mainland of the motherland are creating an increasingly strong attraction for the people of Taiwan,” he said.

“The contrast in power across the Taiwan Strait will become wider and wider, and we will have a full, overwhelming strategic advantage over Taiwan,” Liu added.