Taipei views Beijing’s white book on Taiwan as demonstrating its determination to invade the island, and rejects the “one country – two systems” approach, Taiwan Foreign Ministry spokesperson Joanne Ou said on Thursday.
“The contents of the White Book demonstrate China’s determination to militarily invade Taiwan,” Ou was quoted as saying by Taiwanese television channel TVBS. “We reject the policy of ‘one country – two systems.’ Taiwan’s future should be exclusively determined by the Taiwanese people.”
The document titled “The Taiwan Question and China’s Reunification in the New Era” was jointly prepared and published on Wednesday by the Chinese State Council’s Taiwan Affairs Office and Information Office. Beijing regularly publishes white papers to clarify its policy on various pressing issues.
China will use military force if peaceful reunification with Taiwan fails, according to the new white book. The authors of the document emphasize that the country’s domestic affairs should be decided only by the Chinese themselves, and the Taiwan issue is an internal issue of China, which affects the interests of the country and the national feelings of its people, and no external interference will be tolerated.
The situation around Taiwan escalated following US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s recent visit to Taipei. China considers Taiwan part of its territory and opposes any direct official foreign contacts with the island. Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said that China will leave no room for the Taiwanese pro-independence forces as the reunification of Taiwan with China is historically inevitable and all attempts to use Taiwan to contain China are doomed to failure.
