The Chinese president, Xi Jinpinghe assured this Wednesday in Beijing to the former Taiwanese president Ma Ying-jeou (2008-2016) that “there are no forces that can separate Taiwan of China“and that the “differences” in the political systems of both “cannot change the fact that the two parties are one country.”
Xi noted, during preliminary remarks to the closed-door meeting, that there is “no problem that cannot be talked about,” but emphasized that “the compatriots on both sides of the Strait are Chinese.”
“As long as there is no separation, as long as both sides recognize that they are Chinese, compatriots on both sides of the Strait will be able to sit together, initiate contacts and maintain exchanges as members of a single family.”Xi said when receiving Ma, responsible for the greatest rapprochement between China and Taiwan since the end of the civil war in 1949.
The president added that “foreign interference cannot stop the historical trend of unification,” reports the Hong Kong newspaper. South China Morning Postone of the media that was allowed access to the first moments of the meeting.
Xi, who received Ma as general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC)making clear the unofficial nature of the visit, noted that “only as part of a single family can mutual understanding be improved, trust built and conflicts resolved.”
“There are no forces that can separate us,” stressed Xi, for whom the differences in the political systems of both “cannot change the fact that the two sides are one country.”
A war would be “unbearable”
For his part, Ma, who addressed Xi as “general secretary,” stressed that a war would be “something unbearable.”
“I sincerely hope that both parties can respect the values and ways of life of their people,” he said.
He also noted that “recent tensions” between the two sides have “triggered a sense of insecurity among Taiwanese.”
“If there is war, it would be unbearable for the Chinese nation, but both sides have wisdom to handle disputes peacefully”argument.
On the sidelines, Xi expressed his condolences for the “compatriots who died” in the 7.3-magnitude earthquake that shook the island’s east coast last week and, moments before the closed-door meeting, they both shook hands. of hands that lasted 80 seconds.
This meeting emulates the historic summit that both held in Singapore in 2015, but in a different context due to the rise in tensions between Taipei y Beijingwhich claims the sovereignty of the island for whose “reunification” it has not ruled out the use of force.
In March of last year, Ma became the first former Taiwanese president to travel to the People’s Republic of China, a visit in which he called for more exchanges between Chinese and Taiwanese students because “they share the same culture and ethnic identity.”
The Taiwanese press has highlighted that this visit has no major political objectives other than protecting Ma’s “legacy” as former president, and experts see it as “unlikely” that it will contribute to calming tensions in the Strait.
The current context could not be more different from that of 2015: the official dialogue between Taipei and Beijing has been suspended for eight years, military tensions in the Strait of Formosa have increased and the Chinese authorities have toughened their discourse in favor of “national reunification.”
Ma’s visit takes place just a month and a half before the island’s current vice president, William Lai (Lai Ching-te), considered an “independence supporter” in the eyes of Beijing, assumes the position of president. EFE (I)
#force #separate #China #Taiwan
