The Chinese government has published a bulletin entitled "Taiwan Question and Chinaʼs Unification in the New Era", which reveals its position on Taiwan.
This was reported by the Xinhua news agency.
The bulletin contains a thesis about the inevitability of the "complete reunification of the motherland," which "is the common aspiration of all Chinese sons and daughters." The potential unification is presented there as an inevitable historical regularity, which is based on the principles of the creators of modern China.
Beijing emphasizes that it is "ready to create a wide space for peaceful reunification", but does not rule out a force scenario of capturing the island, noting that "non-peaceful means will be used as a last resort in a situation where there is no other choice."
The White Paper also states that after becoming a part of China, Taiwan will be able to implement a social system different from the mainland for a long time with a high degree of autonomy.
Taiwan is a large island separated from mainland China by a strait. Taiwan declared its separation from China during the civil war in the region in 1949. Until 1971, Taiwan was the internationally recognized representative of China in the United Nations. Then most countries began to establish relations with Beijing and recognized its jurisdiction over Taiwan. Currently, the island state maintains diplomatic relations with only 15 countries, including the Marshall Islands, Tuvalu, Belize, Nicaragua, and only the Vatican from European countries. In January 2021, the United States of America decided to lift internal restrictions on cooperation with Taiwan. China considers Taiwan its territory and hints at a possible military conquest of the island. The Taiwanese army will not be able to stand up to the Chinese army on its own, so the Taiwanese authorities hope for the quick protection of the US army. However, the participation of the Americans is not guaranteed.
- On August 3, Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi arrived in Taiwan for an official one-day visit. She became the highest-ranking US politician to visit Taiwan since 1997. In protest, China imposed sanctions on Pelosi and launched a four-day exercise. After these exercises, he announced new ones and declared that they would be "regular" from now on. Taiwan said the latest drills were like a "rehearsal for taking over the island".
- On August 9, China announced the continuation of military exercises around Taiwan — during them, operations on "joint defense and joint blockade of the island" will be practiced.
- At the same time, the Taiwanese army began artillery exercises in preparation for the islandʼs defense against a possible Chinese attack.