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China Reiterates Right to Use Force to Reunify Taiwan With Mainland

The Communist Party said that China makes “no promise to renounce the use of force” and that it reserves “the option of taking all necessary means” to reunify Taiwan with the mainland.

October 17, 2022
China Reiterates Right to Use Force to Reunify Taiwan With Mainland
Chinese President Xi Jinping
IMAGE SOURCE: JU PENG/XINHUA

China said on Saturday that it reserves the right to use force against Taiwan in compelling situations, although achieving reunification in a peaceful manner would be its ideal route.

Sun Yeli, a spokesperson for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), told a news conference in Beijing that “peaceful reunification” is “in the best interest” of Taiwan, as well as for the “long-term, steady development” of China. “[Peaceful reunification] is our first choice for the solution to the Taiwan question. We are willing to continue to make the sincerest and the greatest efforts for peaceful reunification and creating vast space for peaceful reunification,” Sun declared.

Referring to a white paper titled “The Taiwan Question and China’s Reunification in the New Era” that Beijing published in August, the spokesperson said that the document reaffirms China’s fundamental policy over the Taiwan question.

Notably, the spokesperson said that the Asian superpower makes “no promise to renounce the use of force” and that it reserves “the option of taking all necessary means” to achieve the goal. He clarified that the force would not be targeted at Taiwanese citizens but against “external intervention, ‘Taiwan independence’ forces, and their separatist activities.”

“Our goal is to safeguard the prospect of peaceful reunification of the country at the fundamental level and to promote the process of peaceful reunification. As long as there is one line of possibility for peaceful reunification, we will make a hundred times more efforts to realize it. Unpeaceful means will be our last resort,” Sun asserted.

Sun further noted that “Currently, the ‘Taiwan independence’ forces have been provoking constantly in separatist activities while the external forces try to use the Taiwan question against China.” Keeping this in mind, he warned that if such acts continued, they would “pull Taiwan to the abyss of calamity” and “hurt our compatriots deeply.” “Nobody and no force should underestimate our determination, will and ability to safeguard our sovereignty and territorial integrity,” he underscored.

Sun’s warnings were echoed by Chinese President Xi Jinping at the 20th Party Congress on Sunday, wherein he said that “the use of military power needs to be normalised and used in diverse ways.” “We need to be able to stage military operations readily, create a secure environment, deter and control risks and conflicts, and win regional wars,” Xi told the Congress of 2,300 delegates.

The Chinese president emphasised that Beijing would “continue to strive for peaceful reunification” but like Sun warned that it stands ready to use “all measures necessary” against “outside forces” and Taiwanese separatists, warning of
“dangerous storms” ahead.

“Resolving the Taiwan question is a matter for the Chinese, a matter that must be resolved by the Chinese,” Xi told the gathering.