China vs. Taiwan: Too Unequal A Fight?

[Sukla Sen]

A bit of subtle backpedalling?

Or just yet another threatening posture to cow down and coerce the much smaller neighbour into meek submission?

<<Chinese President Xi Jinping on Saturday called for peaceful reunification with self-governed Taiwan.

Xi made the comments in Beijing just days after mainland China carried out record military incursions into Taiwan's air defense zone.

Taiwan split from mainland China in 1949 and views itself as an independent state, while Beijing claims it is a breakaway province.

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Taiwan's presidential office said on Saturday that the future of the island rests in the hands of its people and that mainstream public opinion is very clear in rejecting China's "one country, two systems" model.

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Taiwan's Mainland Affairs Council, in a separate statement, called on China to abandon its "provocative steps of intrusion, harassment and destruction."

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Xi's last major mention of Taiwan was in July when he vowed to "smash" any attempts at formal independence.

In 2019, he directly threatened to use force to bring the island under Beijing's control.

China has not stopped at verbal threats of violence. Beginning October 1, over the course of four days, the People's Liberation Army flew fighter jets, bombers and airborne early warning aircraft 149 times toward Taiwan.

The largest maneuver involved a record 56 jets at once. This was the largest number since Taiwan's Defense Ministry began releasing such reports in September last year.

Xi did not mention the incursions in his speech.>>

(Excerpted from: <https://www.dw.com/en/chinas-xi-jinping-vows-peaceful-reunification-with-taiwan/a-59455741>.)