Chinese dictator Xi Jinping called for China to create a world-class military as he declared supremacy over Hong Kong and set his sights on Taiwan on Sunday.
Xi made the comments during his opening address to the Chinese Community Party Congress in Beijing. Xi spoke before 2,300 CPP delegates who will later vote to grant him an unprecedented third term as China’s president and general secretary of the CCP. The leader laid out ambitions for China, declaring a determination to beef up the country’s military and take over Taiwan.
“In the face of serious provocations from separatist activities by Taiwan independence forces and interference in Taiwan affairs by external forces, we have resolutely waged a major struggle against separatism and interference, demonstrating our strong determination and ability to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity and oppose Taiwan independence,” Xi said, according to a translation from Reuters.
“We persist in striving for the prospect of peaceful reunification with the greatest sincerity. However, there is no commitment to renounce the use of force and the option to take all necessary measures is retained,” he added.
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The leader went on to declare China’s “comprehensive control” over Hong Kong, which had long stood as a bastion of democracy due to its history as a British colony. While pro-democracy protesters initially offered heavy resistance, a Chinese crackdown and reformation of the city’s government have successfully incorporated the city under the CCP.
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Xi’s government faces a much more daunting challenge in taking Taiwan, however, which has functioned as a self-governing democracy since splitting from the mainland in 1949.
Taiwan also enjoys extensive economic and military support from the U.S. and other Western countries, despite those countries technically not recognizing Taiwan’s independence or sovereignty.
The leader called for China to bolster its military and its “strategic deterrent capability,” according to Reuters.
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China has already held extensive military drills surrounding Taiwan, using House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island as an excuse to start the exercises. Chinese forces appeared to simulate an invasion of the island for weeks throughout August.
