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China will not allow the secession of Taiwan from the mainland, says a senior Chinese official, amid heightened tensions between Beijing and the self-ruled island.
Liu Jieyi, head of the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the State Council Taiwan Affairs Office, made the remark on Tuesday, during an event to mark the 360th anniversary of Zheng Chenggong’s recovery of the island.
Zheng, better known in the West as Koxinga, managed to defeat the Dutch colonists in Taiwan in 1661 and recovered the island after 38 years of occupation. He has been remembered as a national hero by people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait for more than 300 years.
“The Taiwan question cropped up when the nation was weak and chaotic, and will surely be ended with the national rejuvenation,” Liu said at the event, stressing that the future of Taipei lay in the reunification of the nation.
The director of China’s Taiwan Affairs Office also warned that separatists in the self-ruled island were making “troubles” and striving to strip the island of “all Chinese elements and constantly engage in separation and provocation” to achieve their secessionist objectives.
“The provocative and risky actions will only push Taiwan into danger and directly harm the vital interests of Taiwan compatriots. Compatriots on both sides of the Taiwan Strait should work together, and resolutely oppose the vicious plot of the Taiwan secessionist forces and the interference by external forces into the Taiwan affairs,” Liu added.
China has sovereignty over Taiwan, and under the “One China” policy, almost all world countries recognize that sovereignty. The United States, too, recognizes Chinese sovereignty over the island but has long courted Taipei in an attempt to unnerve Beijing.
Washington, which backs Taipei’s secessionist president, also continues to sell weapons to the island in violation of its own stated policy.
“Today’s China is not the old one that was poor, weak, bullied and invaded by outsiders,” Liu further said. “Gone are the days when Western invaders could take over a country by setting up a few cannons on the coast in the east. Anyone should not underestimate the firm determination, the strong will, and the powerful ability of Chinese people to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity! We will never allow any people or any forces to separate Taiwan from China.”
