China: Threats to use force aren’t directed at most Taiwanese
The Chinese government said on Wednesday that China’s position that it won’t give up the option of using force to bring Taiwan under its control targets foreign interference and a small number of separatists on the island.
The Chinese government added that they were ready to expand horizons for the sake of peaceful unity.
Taiwan’s democratically elected government rejects Beijing’s claims to sovereignty over the island, but has repeatedly offered to hold talks, which has been rejected by China.
On Saturday, the Taiwanese elected Lai Ching-te of Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party as the country’s new president, and China considers him a dangerous separatist.
Chen Binhua, the official spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office, said at a regular press conference in Beijing on Wednesday that the result of the elections held in Taiwan doesn’t change the fact that the island is Chinese territory and that it will eventually become unified.
“Our failure to abandon the use of force is not at all aimed at our citizens in Taiwan,” Chen Binhua added.
“We target interference from external forces and the small number of separatists for Taiwan independence and their separatist activities”.
Mainstream public opinion in Taiwan wants peace not war, exchanges not distance, and the bringing down of the Democratic Progressive Party, he continued, repeating the bureau’s comment late Saturday after Lai Ching-te’s victory.
“If the Democratic Progressive Party doesn’t stop and move further and further away from the evil path of seeking ‘independence’ provocations, it will only push Taiwan into a dangerous situation and will cause serious harm to Taiwan,” he said.
The official spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office didn’t mention the name of Taiwan’s president-elect, who will officially take office on May 20, in contrast to what happened before the election, when the Taiwan Affairs Office repeatedly and directly described him as a separatist and a threat to peace.
China says the talks can only take place under a condition that Taiwan recognizes that both sides of the Taiwan Strait are part of one China, something the Democratic Progressive Party-led government has refused to do.
