China has reaffirmed its desire to force a reunification with Taiwan in the extreme case, also by means of military force. President Xi Jinping said today Beijing reserves the option of „taking all necessary measures“. Ultimately, the reunification of Taiwan will be with the mainland, said Xi. This was in the interest and for the benefit of the „Taiwan compatriots“.
The occasion of the speech Xis was the memory of a message from 1979 to Taipei, in which the Communist leadership in Beijing Taiwan demanded the reunification and an end to the military confrontation.
China views the mainland offshore Taiwan as a renegade province since the end of the civil war and the victory of the Mao Tse-tung-led Communist Party over the Kuomintang nationalists in 1949, and seeks reunification on its terms. Although Taiwan split from China, it never formally declared its independence.
