Taiwan Tensions: Xi Jinping’s Bold Reunification Pledge Raises Stakes Ahead of Key Elections

• Xi Jinping declared Taiwan would “surely be reunified” with China.
• Xi’s statement had a more assertive tone.
• The Taiwan issue has strained US-China relations.

Xi Jinping, the president of China, declared again in his yearly New Year’s Eve speech that Taiwan would “surely be reunified” with China.

His statement coincides with Taiwan’s important elections on January 13, which will set the course of the island’s cross-strait policies for the ensuing four years.

In addition, he used a more assertive tone than in his remarks from the previous year, when he referred to Taiwan as a member of the “same family”.

Ahead of the elections, China has increased its military pressure on Taiwan.

It views the 23 million-person self-governing island as a breakaway province that will inevitably come under Beijing’s authority. Taiwan, which has democratically elected authorities and its own constitution, regards itself as separate from the Chinese mainland.

Separately, Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen declared in her New Year’s speech that the “will of the Taiwanese people” must determine the island’s relations with China. Beijing is attempting to meddle in the election, which will select a new president and administration, as her government has often warned.

Although it disputes being pro-China, Taiwan’s Kuomintang party (KMT) has historically supported closer ties with Beijing. With eight years in power, Ms. Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), the primary competitor of the KMT, has taken a more assertive stance toward China, maintaining that Taiwan is an independent nation and not a part of China.

The tone of Mr. Xi’s most recent remarks was more assertive than when he referred to “people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait… members of one and the same family” last year, but they are nonetheless consistent with China’s long-standing unification strategy.

Relations between the US and China have also been strained by the Taiwan issue, with the latter denouncing any apparent backing of Taipei by Washington. According to official statements, Beijing “reserves the option of taking all necessary measures” to counter external influences that obstruct peaceful unification.

However, Mr. Xi and US President Joe Biden celebrated the start of the new year in a cordial way, exchanging congratulations on Monday.

According to Reuters, which cited Chinese state media source CCTV, Mr. Xi stated that “adhering to mutual respect, peaceful coexistence, and win-win cooperation is the correct way for China and the United States to interact.”

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