China's 'whitepaper' on Taiwan: 'Reunification' and 'respond with the use of force'

After concluding the largest-ever military exercise near Taiwan, Chinese authorities released a "white paper" on the Taiwan question titled: "The Taiwan Question and China's Reunification in the New Era".

The whitepaper said, "resolving the Taiwan question and realising China's complete reunification is a shared aspiration". China ratcheted up tensions with military drills in Taiwan Straits after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan and asserted that the US will stand with the island nation even as Chinese authorities slammed the visit.

China carried out a four-day military exercise near Taiwan using ballistic missiles and flew its premier fighter planes near Taiwan's air defence zone as reports claimed some missiles flew over the island as President Tsai's government accussed the Xi regime of carrying out simulation attacks. China considers Taiwan a breakaway province which it has repeatedly said it would unify with the mainland by force if necessary.

What does the Chinese "whitepaper" on Taiwan say?

In the "whitepaper", the Xi regime asserted that China's complete reunification is "indispensable" for the realisation of China's rejuvenation claiming that "Taiwan belonged to China since ancient times as it detailed Taiwan's history".

China declared that "complete reunification is a process that cannot be halted" while exhorting the Chinese people to "stick together". "We will surely succeed in realising national reunification on our way to national rejuvenation," it said.

The paper quoted the IMF statistics to show that in 1980 the GDP of China was nearly $303 billion, which was "over seven times that of Taiwan" and in 2021, the "GDP of the mainland was about $17.46 trillion, more than 22 times that of Taiwan."

The paper bluntly said that "any attempt by separatist forces to prevent reunification is bound to fail", asserting that "Taiwan belongs to all the Chinese people, including the 23 million Taiwan compatriots."

What did the "whitepaper" say on the "One-China" policy?

The paper said "national reunification" by peaceful means is the first choice of the CPC and the Chinese government in resolving the Taiwan question. The paper said in October 1971, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 2758 and "spelt out that China has one single seat in the UN, so there is no such thing as "two Chinas" or "one China, one Taiwan".

The paper said "any attempt to distort facts" will end in "failure", a line which China's foreign ministry has reiterated a number of times.

"We are one China, and Taiwan is part of China. This is an indisputable fact supported by history," the paper claimed. It said that "Taiwan has never been a state" and its "status as part of China is unalterable."

Taiwan-US relations

The whitepaper slammed the United States saying that "some forces in the US insist on perceiving and portraying China as a major strategic adversary" while adding that Taiwan is being used as a "convenient tool".

"External forces are using Taiwan as a pawn to undermine China's development and progress and obstruct the rejuvenation of the Chinese nation," the paper said referring to the United States.

The paper stated that the Chinese government is ready to "respond with the use of force or other necessary means to interference by external forces" while alleging that the US has been making "every effort to incite groups inside Taiwan to stir up trouble".