beijing: China’s President Xi Jinping warns of ‘grim’ Taiwan situation in letter to opposition

The state of affairs within the Taiwan Strait is “advanced and grim”, Chinese language President Xi Jinping wrote in a congratulatory letter on Sunday to the newly elected chief of Taiwan’s essential opposition get together, who has pledged to resume talks with Beijing.

Taiwan’s Kuomintang (KMT) elected as their chief on Saturday
former New Taipei Metropolis mayor Eric Chu, who stated he would rekindle stalled high-level contacts with China’s ruling Communist Get together.

China claims Taiwan as its personal territory and has stepped up navy and political strain to drive the democratically dominated island to simply accept Chinese language sovereignty, regardless that most Taiwanese have proven no real interest in being ruled by Beijing.

In Xi’s letter, a duplicate of which was launched by the KMT, he stated each events had had “good interactions” based mostly on their joint opposition to Taiwan independence.

“At current, the state of affairs within the Taiwan Strait is advanced and grim. All of the little children of the Chinese language nation should work along with one coronary heart and go ahead collectively,” wrote Xi, who can be head of the Communist Get together.

He expressed hope that each events might cooperate on “in search of peace within the Taiwan Strait, in search of nationwide reunification and in search of nationwide revitalisation”.

Chu, who badly misplaced the 2016 presidential election to present President Tsai Ing-wen, responded to Xi that folks on either side of the Taiwan Strait have been “all the youngsters of the Yellow Emperor” – in different phrases, all Han Chinese language.

Chu blamed Tsai’s Democratic Progressive Get together (DPP) for tensions with Beijing after pursuing anti-China insurance policies.

Chu, who met Xi in China in 2015, stated he hoped to “search widespread floor and respect variations, enhance mutual belief and geniality, strengthen exchanges and cooperation in order to permit the continued peaceable growth of cross-strait relations”.

Below outgoing KMT chief Johnny Chiang’s 17-month tenure, high-level contacts with China stalled amid navy tensions and suspicion in Beijing the get together was not sufficiently dedicated to the thought Taiwan was a part of “one China”.

In addition to dropping the 2016 polls, the KMT have been trounced in elections final yr after failing to shake DPP accusations they have been Beijing’s lackeys.

China refuses to speak to Tsai, calling her a separatist. She says Taiwan is already an unbiased nation known as the Republic of China, the island’s formal title, and that solely Taiwan’s folks have the best to determine their very own future.