China's president Xi Jinping has said Beijing must resolutely prevent anyone from splitting Taiwan from China in any way at a symposium commemorating the 130th anniversary of the birth of former Chinese leader Mao Zedong.
Xi Jinping said the motherland “must be reunified and will inevitably be reunified” after it was reported that the Chinese leader told US president Joe Biden during their recent summit in San Francisco that Beijing will reunify Taiwan with mainland China.
Xi Jinping paid tribute to Mao Zedong and hailed his political teachings, according to state news agency Xinhua. The Chinese leader also led the Politburo Standing Committee, the country’s most powerful decision-making body, in “remembering Mao Zedong’s achievements” at Mao’s mausoleum in Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.
What Xi Jinping had told Joe Biden on Taiwan?
Xi Jinping told his US counterpart in a a group meeting attended by a dozen American and Chinese officials that China’s preference is to take Taiwan peacefully, not by force, it was reported. Referencing public predictions by US military leaders who that Xi Jinping plans to take Taiwan in 2025 or 2027, Xi Jinping told Joe Biden that they were wrong because he has not set a time frame.
Chinese officials also asked Joe Biden to make a public statement after the meeting saying that the US supports China’s goal of peaceful unification with Taiwan and does not support Taiwanese independence. This request was rejected by the White House, the report claimed.
This comes as China’s behavior toward Taiwan is being seen as increasingly aggressive ahead of a pivotal presidential election in the self-governing democratic island.
US Senator Lindsey Graham responded to the report saying, “This story as reported is beyond unnerving. I will be working with Democratic and Republican Senators to do two things quickly. First, create a robust defense supplemental for Taiwan and second, draft pre-invasion sanctions from hell to impose on China if they take action to seize Taiwan.”
