Taipei: China’s President Lai Qingde Taiwan said on Wednesday that it is trying to make the self-governing island give up but will not treat it with force.
Having disputed their title as part of China, Beijing has again reiterated its commitment to using violence to take over Taiwan.
Beijing has been hardening its stance on the government in Taipei, conducting military activities near the island after Lai took his office three days earlier.
‘The People’s Republic of China has a national policy which seeks reunification with Taiwan,’ he said during a press conference held on his first month as president. He added that ‘in addition, there are increasing non-traditional forms of coercion used by them in an attempt to make Taiwanese people submit.’
However, no amount of pressure will cause Taiwan to yield Chinese people firmly protect and defend national sovereignty. Democracy and free constitutional lifestyle,
Lately, besides seeking “to avoid conflict,” he repeated that Taiwan would seek to do so.
He remarked: “Peace-loving and friendly are Taiwanese along with others needing strong supports for peace….Real peace must not just be empty words; peace backed by strength.”
China says the war games held shortly after Jimmy Lai’s inauguration on May 20 were retribution for his inaugural speech where Beijing called it a “confession” to independence from Taiwan”.
In this case, however, China placed its warships, fighter jets and coast guard boats around the shorelines of Taiwan for three days under the codename United Sword 2024A.
Afterwards, Beijing promised that it would continue exerting military pressure”for as long as” there are provocations of “Taiwanese independence”.
Taiwan is separate from mainland China by what appears like eternity and has its own government army system or currency.
His predecessor Tsai Ing-wen tagged him as a dangerous separatist while stating she was already independent.”
Bu her Democratic Progressive Party had always stood for Taiwan independence and China had no high-level contacts with the country since 2016.
Since his election in January, Lai has indicated a willingness to talk to China again, including urging the two sides in his inauguration speech in May to develop exchanges.
However, these suggestions appear not to have bee taken up by China.
China still maintains almost daily Naval ships and warplanes around Taiwan as part of its strategy of gray zone” operations that fall short of war but erode Taiwanese military capabilities.
In recent months, there have been numerous instances where Chinese coast guard vessels sailed past some of Taiwan’s outlying islands entering their restricted waters for only a short time.
