Beijing more confident than ever of Taiwan reunification, senior mainland official says
- Head of Taiwan Affairs Office says China’s growing international influence means it can be more confident than ever of returning island to the mainland fold
- Liu Jieyi’s comments to People’s Daily newspaper were made three weeks ahead of the island’s elections, where cross-strait relations are one of the main issues
Beijing is more capable than ever of reuniting Taiwan with the mainland given the rise of its global influence, a senior official said on Thursday.
“Today, we are closer than any other historical period and are more confident in achieving the goal of our grand mission of the Chinese renaissance,” said Liu Jieyi, head of the State Council’s Taiwan Affairs Office.
“We have stronger abilities and better conditions in pushing for [Taiwan’s] reunification with the motherland,” he told Communist Party mouthpiece People’s Daily.
Liu’s comments came three weeks ahead of Taiwan’s presidential election – a poll seen by some Taiwanese and American analysts as a referendum on whether to distance the island further from the mainland.
It also came on the eve of the 20th anniversary of Macau’s return to Chinese rule. President Xi Jinping, who is visiting the former Portuguese colony this week, has heaped praise on the city as a successful example of the “one country, two systems” principle – which Beijing has said will provide a model for reunification with Taiwan.
However, Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen, of the independence-leaning Democratic Progressive Party, has been growing in popularity since she rejected the model.