China ‘can and will achieve reunification’ with Taiwan: Xi Jinping

Shanghai, China, Oct 9 (EFE).- Chinese President Xi Jinping said Saturday that the country “can and will achieve” reunification with Taiwan.

“Complete reunification of our country can and will be achieved,” Xi said at the end of a speech commemorating the 110th anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution in 1911, which ended centuries of dynastic power in China and led to the creation of Taiwan.

Although Xi had not previously ruled out the use of force for China to integrate Taiwan, considered a rebellious province by Beijing, he said Saturday that they would follow the “basic principle of ‘peaceful reunification'”.

“National reunification by peaceful means is the general interest of the Chinese nation, including our compatriots in Taiwan,” said the president, who again mentioned the framework of “one country, two systems” – applied in Hong Kong and Macau. This contemplates the territories’ autonomy in various areas while remaining sovereignly under China.

Chinese president called on “compatriots on both sides of the (Taiwan) Strait” to “get on the right side of history,” warning that those who promote Taiwan’s independence are “the biggest obstacle” to reunification and a “grave danger”.

Taiwan has been governed autonomously since the end of the 1949 civil war after the communist victory, resulting in the withdrawal of Kuomintang nationalists to the island, where they have remained to date, despite China continuing to claim the territory as its own.

However, with the transition to democracy since the end of the 1980s, voices on the island that demand to declare the independence of Taiwan as a sovereign state have gained strength.

Xi said “those who forget their inheritance, betray the mother country and seek to divide the country will not have a good end, and will be despised by the people and condemned by history.”

After saying the “Taiwan question” is an internal matter in which other countries shouldn’t interfere, Xi added that “no one should underestimate the determination, will and ability of the Chinese people to defend their national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”

In the opinion of the communist leader, the ‘de facto’ separation of the island from the rest of the country arose “from the weakness and chaos of the nation,” and will be resolved when his plans for “national rejuvenation” are realized.

“Reunification is the hope of all Chinese. If China can be reunified, all Chinese will live a happy life; if not, all will suffer,” Xi said Saturday, remembering Sun Yat Sen, one of the great protagonists of the 1911 Revolution and the founder of the Kuomintang.

Sun, Taiwan’s first president, remains a figure revered by both communists in China and the Kuomintang in Taiwan, a shared admiration that stems from his struggle to end the imperial regime and modernize the country. EFE

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