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 planes nearly into the waters and airspace around the self-ruled island of 23 million people.

China considers Taiwan a part of its territory and has not ruled 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 are a circle of relatives,” Xi said in a televised speech on Chinese state broadcaster CCTV. “No one can break the ties of our family circle and no one can prevent the historical trend towards national reunification. »

His statement comes a month after China staged a massing of naval forces around Taiwan after Taiwanese president Lai Ching Te stopped over in Hawaii and the US territory of Guam during a Pacific trip criticised by Beijing.

Tensions remained high throughout the year in the sensitive Taiwan Strait, especially after Lai, considered a “separatist” by Beijing, became president in May 2024.

In the last week of December, the Chinese government sanctioned seven in reaction to US arms sales and aid to Taipei.

Last year, the Chinese leader said that reunification with Taiwan was inevitable and that people on both sides “should be bound by a common sense of purpose and share in the glory of the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation”.

Taiwan’s president said Wednesday that he welcomes an equal, dignified, healthy and orderly industry with China. Lai said China blocks general interactions by imposing restrictions on Chinese tourists or scholars reading on the island, while similar bans do not apply to Taiwanese traveling to China.

“But I still must 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 while they have all those controls when it comes to Taiwan, Lai said. “Is this really a sign of goodwill toward Taiwan? Can’t they treat everyone equally?  »

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