Beijing: Chinese President Xi Jinping has redoubled efforts to build pressure to force Taiwan’s absorption into mainland China, according to reports, adding that the country is sending warships and warplanes ever closer to Taiwan, even into and through its airspace.
The Taipei government is, however, planning a democratic presidential election on January 13, a three-way race in which voters consider an outcome that could well define the island’s future, a report said.
According to the report, this is happening with determined American political, diplomatic and military support, including Biden being clearer than previous presidents that the US will defend Taiwan. Despite GOP foot-dragging in Congress, Biden has included funding for Taiwan as well as Ukraine and Israel in a new aid package — an all-but-unprecedented effort at American assistance for democracies under threat.
The US President has managed the relationship with Beijing rather than rupturing it in ways that could be dangerous. He recently succeeded in reopening military-to-military channels of communication with China for the first time since Beijing severed them after then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan in August 2022.
China’s military recently released an animation depicting the journey to reunite two halves of a torn scroll across the Taiwan Strait. This comes as a reference to the country’s longstanding goal of “reunification” with the democratic, self-ruled island.
The Eastern Theatre Command of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) released the animation to mark National Day, the anniversary of the founding of the People’s Republic of China, and is the latest short film to capitalize on nationalist sentiment over historic Chinese treasures held overseas.
China’s ruling Communist Party claims Taiwan, home to 24 million residents, as its territory — despite never having controlled it. It has long vowed to “reunify” Taiwan with the Chinese mainland, by force if necessary.
