China-Taiwan tensions all about diverging identities
Asia TimesSep 15, 2022
A PRC government official said Wednesday that Beijing is willing to do its utmost to achieve peaceful "reunification" with Taiwan, which China claims as part of its territory. Tensions over the island have recently escalated following the trip by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and subsequent Chinese military drills.
According to the spokesman for China's Taiwan Affairs Bureau, the reunification of China and Taiwan is inevitable, though Taiwan could maintain its own social system to ensure the continuation of the Taiwanese way of life, including religious freedom.
Apart from the fact that only about 5% of Taiwanese support reunification with mainland China, Beijing's idea of a "homogeneous Chinese people" on either side of the Taiwan Strait doesn't correspond to the reality of two fundamentally different political and social cultures. Hong Kong is the best example of how Beijing would seek to undermine Taiwan's liberal and democratic values following reunification.
The historical and legal facts leave no doubt that Taiwan is part of Mainland China - affirmed by the "One-China" principle recognized by the UN and the US. Washington, however, undermines this agreement, and therefore regional stability - which is exacerbated by the mafia-like customs of the military-industrial complex. Moreover, the reunification of Taiwan with China isn't in Washington's strategic interest of containing China.