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After weeks of military drills following US House speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, China is willing to work towards peaceful “reunification” with Taiwan, according to a government spokesperson. Taiwan rejects this claim, arguing that it is only the island’s population that can decide their future.<\/p>\n
China has been conducting military drills off the coast of Taiwan since Ms Pelosi’s controversial visit last month, including firing missiles into waters.<\/p>\n
However, ahead of next month’s Communist Party Congress, Beijing has struck a more conciliatory tone.<\/p>\n
Ma Xiaoguang, a spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, told a news conference that China was willing to make efforts to achieve peaceful “reunification”.<\/p>\n
He said: “The motherland must be reunified and will inevitably be reunified.”<\/p>\n
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Ma added that China’s determination to safeguard its territory is unwavering.<\/p>\n
Beijing has proposed a “one country, two systems” model for Taiwan.<\/p>\n
It is a similar model to the formula under which the former British colony of Hong Kong returned to Chinese rule in 1997.<\/p>\n
According to the spokesperson, Taiwan could have a “social system different from the mainland” ensuring their way of life was respected including religious freedoms.<\/p>\n
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However, he added this would be “under the precondition of ensuring national sovereignty, security, and development interests”.<\/p>\n
All mainstream Taiwanese political parties have rejected the proposal and it has virtually no public support according to opinion polls.<\/p>\n
This is particularly the case since Beijing imposed a national security law in Hong Kong in 2020 following a series of sometimes violent anti-government protests.<\/p>\n
China has never ruled out the possibility of using force to take Taiwan under its control.<\/p>\n
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