Chinese leader Xi Jinping said today that China will make every effort to reunify Taiwan peacefully but will "never renounce the use of force," at the opening of the 20th Communist Party Congress (CCP).
"Te will work with the utmost sincerity and make every effort for the peaceful reunification [of Taiwan], but we will never renounce the use of force and reserve the possibility to adopt all necessary measures," he said.
China and Taiwan have lived as two autonomous territories since 1949, when the former Chinese nationalist government took refuge on the island after defeat in the civil war against the communists.
Taiwan acts as a sovereign political entity, but Beijing insists that the territory is a province of its own.
The United States remains Taipei's biggest ally and arms supplier.
"The resolution of the Taiwan issue is a matter of the Chinese people and should be resolved by the Chinese people alone," Xi Jinping pointed out.
"The reunification of the motherland must be achieved and will be achieved," he added, condemning "separatism and foreign interference" in the Taiwan issue.
Xi Jinping also praised Hong Kong's transition "from chaos to governance." His government imposed a national security law on the city in 2020 that virtually eliminated opposition and pro-democracy activists in China's semi-autonomous region.
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