Although Beijing wants peaceful reunification with Taiwan, foreign meddling means China must retain the use of force as an option, a Chinese white paper has said.
China bases its claim of sovereignty over Taiwan on history, international law, and the aspirations of the people of China.
The paper published on Wednesday by the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council and the People’s Republic of China’s State Council Information Office outlines that foreign meddling in Chinese domestic affairs and encouraging secession on the self-ruled island may make peaceful impossible.
According to the policy document titled “The Taiwan Question and China’s Reunification in the New Era”, Beijing considers the contingency necessary to protect itself against external interference and all separatist activities.
However, it stressed that China would resort to violence only in the event of other parties crossing its red lines and if forced to do so.
Noting the vastly improved cross-strait relations over the decades, the white paper sets the peaceful reunification under the “one country, two systems” arrangement as the ultimate goal of its Taiwan policy. That arrangement would allow Taipei to preserve its domestic policies.
Blaming the ongoing escalation of tensions on anti-Chinese forces in the US that incite groups inside the island to stir up trouble and use Taiwan as a pawn against Beijing, the Chinese government underlines that those tensions go against the objectively beneficial path of reconciliation.
Stressing that Beijing will leave no room for any form of separatist activities in Taiwan, the paper warned that if left unchecked, those provocative actions will further disrupt China-US relations, severely damage the US and continue to escalate tension across the straits.
The paper asserted that under the ruling Democratic Progressive Party, Taiwan’s administration has colluded with external forces in successive provocative actions to divide the country and has adopted a separatist stance.
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