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Taiwan
ChinaPolitics

Tsai Ing-wen says Taiwan must ‘resist annexation’ – a day after Xi Jinping’s call for reunification

  • Tsai says island and mainland should not be ‘subordinate to each other’ in speech to mark foundation of first Chinese republic
  • Taiwanese leader says she wants to improve cross-strait relations, but warns the Taiwanese people will not ‘bow to pressure’

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Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen says the island and the mainland should not be subordinate to each other. Photo: EPA-EFE
Lawrence Chung
Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen has said the island and the mainland should not be “subordinate to each other” in an apparent rebuff of a call by Chinese President Xi Jinping for peaceful cross-strait reunification.
In a speech to mark the 110th anniversary of the foundation of the Republic of China – which Taiwan’s government uses as an official title – Tsai also said Taiwan must “resist annexation or encroachment upon our sovereignty”, and stressed that “the future of the ROC (Taiwan) must be decided in accordance with the will of the Taiwanese people”.

“Let us here renew with one another our enduring commitment to a free and democratic constitutional system, our commitment that the Republic of China and the People’s Republic of China should not be subordinate to each other,” she said on Sunday.

Her remarks came a day after Xi told a meeting in Beijing to mark the anniversary that “the reunification of the motherland by peaceful means is most in line with the overall interests of the Chinese nation, including our compatriots in Taiwan”.

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“Taiwan independence separatism is the biggest obstacle to achieving the reunification of the motherland, and the most serious hidden danger to national rejuvenation,” Xi said.

“Those who forget their ancestors, betray the motherland, or split the country are doomed. They will definitely be spurned by the people and judged by history.”

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Beijing regards Taiwan as a breakaway province that must return to the mainland’s fold. So far, it has offered reunification by peaceful means, but has repeatedly warned that the island would be subject to attack if it formally declares independence.
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