China’s Xi Jinping says ‘no force’ can stop ‘reunion’ with Taiwan
China’s Xi Jinping says ‘no force’ can stop ‘reunion’ with Taiwan
China's Xi Jinping spoke of a ‘family reunion’ with Taiwan when he met with a former Taiwanese president. Beijing has threatened to use force to reabsorb the democracy.
Amid heightened tensions between China and Taiwan, Chinese President Xi Jinping told a former Taiwanese president who supports unification that the countries “belong” together.
“Differences in systems cannot change the fact that both sides of the Taiwan Straits belong to the same country and nation,” Xi said.
“External interference cannot stop the historical trend of reunion of the country and family,” Xi said, in comments reported by Taiwanese media and published by Reuters.
…
Beijing claims the independent island of Taiwan is a Chinese province and has threatened to use force to achieve unification. China frequently sends warplanes and naval vessels to circle the small island democracy and has been mounting an increasing number of military drills over recent years.
Why does Xi think he gets any say? He’s showing his full hand already, and it’s actually pathetic. Already saying that it will have to be taken by force. So he’s admitting that the people of Taiwan, if given a choice, may not choose to join China. Let’s give everyone a vote guaranteed by international overwatch, none of those mainland representatives.
This is just another dictator having a whiny shitstorm threatening to take territory by force just because they want their historical empire.
Because the winds are blowing in his favour. Xi (and the rest of the world) have watched Russia take land with little repercussion. The reaction to the invasion of Crimea was mild and allowed for the full on invasion years later. The rules have changed and now leaders are seeing that taking land, which used to be seen as a relic of the past, is back on the menu.
The US and a lot of the west is afraid to get involved and do what needs to be done to stop Putin, and Xi knows that if he waits for the perfect moment Taiwan will be his.
The US is building domestic chip manufacturing in case they lose TSMC, and once it's operational one of the main reasons they consider Taiwan an asset will be gone. Xi likely is hoping the war in Ukraine and Israel will continue and "news fatigue" will render people uninterested in a new conflict. I'm not sure what the final nail will be that makes him move, but a controllable president like Trump getting in is a good bet.
I think there are two differences between Taiwan and Ukraine: Putin is fucking insane and might actually use nukes if attacked directly by a NATO nation, but I don't think Xi would do that (I could be wrong on both assessments). And Ukraine doesn't really have anything the world wants, while Taiwan (like you correctly pointed out) is about the only place that makes high performance computer chips and nobody wants China to have a world-wide stranglehold on that product.
The US is providing funding for companies like TSMC and Intel to buld fabs in the US. The reality is that TSMC is having a very hard time hiring and deal with cultural gaps between Asian working mindset vs. American working mindset. There's going to be some serious pain getting these fabs up and running.
He’s not saying it will have to be taken by force. Where did you read that? He’s implying that China is willing to use force but he’s not asserting that the use of force is necessary if that makes sense.
If you want to understand the situation you have to understand that Taiwanese only remained politically independent thanks to US intervention in the Chinese civil war. When the nationalists fled to Taiwan the US stationed a fleet between the island and the mainland. That prevented the communists from finishing the fight against Chiang Kai-shek’s fascist KMT. The US then supported the KMT as the legitimate government of China right up until Kissinger realized the US could ally with the CPC against the USSR.
Given their long victimhood at the hands of colonialist and imperialist nations, the CPC is worried about what allowing Taiwanese independence would mean for their national security. They see foreign support for Taiwanese independence as the continued meddling of outside powers in Chinese affairs. That said I imagine they would be more amicable with maintaining Taiwanese political independence under the umbrella of an economic union if the US agreed to stop funding pro independence groups in Taiwan.
He doesn't care about Taiwan as being part of China. He cares about those lovely tech companies with TMSC as the crown jewel. China wants to be the new world order and need chips to get that done. Taiwan being reunited with the mainland is only to fuel the nationalists to beg Xi to do it.
Never underestimate the attraction of national pride to a nationalist. Taiwan would stick in his craw even if it wasn't home to some of the most important industries in the modern world.
I love how he says "reunion" as if it's a 20 year old who grew up an orphan meeting their real parents for the first time after they were kidnapped at 2 y/o.
What an incredibly specific metaphor.
He's technically correct - the Taiwanese government are the legitimate government of China living in exile from the Communist Party's violent take over.
This is a wild take. The Chiang Kai-shek’s KMT did not have any more legitimacy than the CPC. He was a straight up fascist and after fleeing to Taiwan he politically repressed native Taiwanese people by having them massacred. You can oppose Xi and the CPC without having to pretend the KMT was at all legitimate.
I almost want to see him try, because invading Taiwan is more likely to ruin the communist party than the Taiwanese government.
you're getting downvoted for saying the true lol
xi obviously havent watched star wars, that force took down a massive empire.
Oh look what happened by letting Poots do his thing can't wait for the 4 world zones to be complete
Back to Säbelrasseln?
This is their official policy. And if Taiwan wanted to unify, I don't think any force COULD stop the reunion. He's not talking about whether or not an invasion would work.