Taiwanese president Lai Ching Te says he hopes to have healthy and orderly exchanges with Beijing
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President Xi Jinping reiterated in his New Year’s speech that no one can stop China’s reunification with Taiwan.
Beijing has increased its military presence near Taiwan, sending warships and aircraft nearly into the waters and airspace around the self-governing island of 23 million people.
China considers Taiwan part of its territory and rules out the use of force to bring the island back into its fold.
Taiwan, which broke away from the mainland in 1949, rejects Beijing’s claim that only its other peoples can guarantee its future.
“People on both sides of the Taiwan Strait form a circle of kin,” Mr. Xi said in a televised speech on China’s state broadcaster CCTV. “No one can break the ties of our circle of relatives and no one can prevent the historical trend towards national reunification. “
This comes a month after China staged a naval rally around Taiwan after Taiwanese President Lai Ching Te stopped in Hawaii and the U. S. territory of Guam during a Pacific vacation, criticized by Beijing.
Tensions have remained high throughout the year in the sensitive Taiwan Strait, especially after Mr Lai, deemed a “separatist” by Beijing, became the president in May 2024.
In the last week of December, the Chinese government sanctioned seven companies in response to American weapons sales and aid to Taipei.
Last year, the Chinese leader said reunification with Taiwan was inevitable and that others on both sides “should be united by a common purpose and share the glory of the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation. “
Taiwan’s president said Wednesday that he welcomes equitable, dignified, healthy and orderly exchanges with China. Lai said China is blocking general interactions by imposing restrictions on visits by Chinese tourists or scholars reading on the island, while the bans do not apply to Taiwanese traveling to China. .
“But I must still emphasize this: Taiwan hopes to have healthy and orderly exchanges with China in accordance with the principles of reciprocity and dignity,” he said.
Journalists deserve to ask China why its citizens can travel freely to countries like the United States and Japan when they exercise all these controls when it comes to Taiwan, Mr. S. Lai. « Is this really a sign of goodwill towards Taiwan? Do they treat everyone the same? »
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