In New Year’s speech, Taiwan president warns Beijing against ‘military adventurism’

‘The military is definitely not an option for solving cross-strait disagreements’, Tsai Ing-wen says in reminding Beijing not to ‘misjudge’ situation

The two sides must ‘calm the hearts of the people’ to find peaceful solutions, Tsai adds, while highlighting human rights worries over Hong Kong

Reading Time:1 minute

Why you can trust SCMP

99+

President Tsai Ing-wen presents her new year’s address. Photo: CNA

Reuters

Published: 1:50pm, 1 Jan 2022Updated: 12:54pm, 3 Jan 2022

Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen marked the new year with a message for mainland China: military conflict is not the answer.

“We must remind the Beijing authorities to not misjudge the situation and to prevent the internal expansion of ‘military adventurism’,” Tsai said on Saturday in her New Year’s Day speech broadcast live on Facebook.

Beijing claims democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory and has increased military and diplomatic pressure in the past two years to assert its sovereignty claims.

In Chinese President Xi Jinping’s New Year’s Eve address, he said the complete unification of “the motherland” was an aspiration shared by people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

Taiwan has repeatedly vowed to defend its freedom and democracy.

“The military is definitely not an option for solving cross-strait disagreements. Military conflicts would impact economic stability,” Tsai said. “Our two sides jointly shoulder the responsibility of maintaining regional peace and stability.”

Taiwan’s stance has always been “to not succumb when facing pressure and to not rashly advance when receiving support,” Tsai said.