Beijing in no rush to take Taiwan by force, say Chinese government advisers

Name: Taiwan deploys its most advanced F-16V fighter jets amid rising military tensions with Beijing
Uploaded: 2021-11-19T22:00:25.000Z
Duration: 1 min 15 s
Description: Taiwan deploys its most advanced F-16V fighter jets amid rising military tensions with Beijing

The leadership is said to be confident it has the situation under control and sees no reason to rush towards unification

Xi Jinping recently told Joe Biden that the mainland would take a ‘patient’ approach – a message reinforced by a recent Communist Party resolution

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China has stepped up is military pressure on Taiwan in recent years. Photo: dpa

Amber Wangin Beijing

Published: 6:00am, 20 Nov 2021Updated: 10:27pm, 20 Nov 2021

Beijing is in no rush to reunify Taiwan by force even though it is stepping up its efforts to target pro-independence forces, according to Chinese government advisers.

Concerns about possible conflict have been rising in recent months, but this week Xi Jinping told Joe Biden during their virtual summit that Beijing would take “drastic action” if provoked, but the mainland was “patient” and “sincere” about seeking peaceful reunification.

An adviser on Taiwan affairs, speaking on condition of anonymity, said, the leadership felt it has the situation under control, adding: “[Beijing] is saying that there is no need to worry as long as we are in control of the overall situation.”

The message was reinforced by a recent resolution endorsed by the Communist Party’s sixth plenum – a major policy meeting of the party elite. The resolution said Beijing held the initiative in cross-strait relations and that the timing and momentum for achieving national unification was entirely on the mainland’s side.

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Taiwan deploys its most advanced F-16V fighter jets amid rising military tensions with Beijing

Beijing regards the island as a breakaway province that must be reunified with the mainland – by force if necessary. Tensions have been rising in recent years as Beijing has stepped up military operations around the island, including regular sorties by large numbers of warplanes in the island’s air defence identification zone.