Intimidation will only drive Taiwan further away from China, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) said yesterday after Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) delivered a tough speech on national sovereignty in Beijing.
During a nearly one-hour speech to mark the 90th anniversary of the founding of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), Xi said China would never permit the loss of “any piece” of its land.
DPP spokesman Wang Min-sheng (王閔生) said the Republic of China (ROC) is an independent, sovereign country, and Taiwan’s future has to be decided by its 23 million citizens through a democratic process.
“China has to respect the fact that the ROC exists, respect the mainstream public opinion in Taiwan, respect the faith of Taiwanese in democratic values and respect Taiwan’s democratic system and the choices of its people,” Wang said.
Peace and development across the Taiwan Strait have to be built on reciprocal interactions and dialogues and increased mutual understanding to maintain regional stability, he said.
“Any intimidating language will only drive Taiwan away and is detrimental to the peaceful development of cross-strait relations,” he said.
Xi also emphasized that the PLA’s highest loyalty is to the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) and demanded that it possess the “four consciousnesses”: ideology, the whole, the core and the line.
Taiwan Thinktank researcher Tung Li-wen (董立文) said as Xi has been styled the “core” of the CCP and his talk of the “four consciousnesses” indicates a desire to assert personal control over the military and consolidate his political power ahead of the party’s 19th National Congress this fall.
In a major break from tradition, no former party chairmen were present at yesterday’s anniversary parade, Tung said.
Those actions showed that Xi intends to transform the PLA into “an armed guard of the party under his personal control,” he said.
“Xi is clearly the most powerful man in China. However, if Xi’s power base really is secure, why does he need to posture so frequently and openly in demonstration of his power?” Tung said.
The fragility or strength of Xi as core leader can only be determined after the next generation of leaders emerge during the national congress, Tung said.
As of press time last night, the government had not officially responded to Xi’s speech.
Additional reporting by AP
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