In Xi jinping’s speech, marking 40 years at the start of improving ties, he states that Taiwan ‘must and will’ accept its reunification with China and join a one-country-two-system basis. However, he warned that China will not hesitate force regarding the issue. Although Taiwan is a self-governed state, it has never officially declared its independence from the mainland. Under the two party system, as used in Hong Kong, Taiwan would have the right to run its own affairs but the Taiwan consensus opposes the ‘one country two system’. Taiwan’s President reiterated on Wednesday that they will never accept the offered agreement under the Chinese terms. To begin the new year, Ms. Tsai stated that China must use peaceful means to continue its goal and respect the Taiwanese democratic values.
While reading this article, it became clear that China’s last resort was to try and establish fear by threatening its military super powers against the island for dominance. Despite the large military differences, what is the probability of military use actually becoming reality? As stated in the article, sending its military powers across the choppy and well-defended Taiwan strait is a gamble which does not guarantee success. The only positive impact, that I see, that China can have on Taiwan is its successful economy. China’s issue is that it only sees Taiwan as a breakaway province, therefor not an independent, self-governed state. This is an issue because China’s mindset has been leaning towards Taiwan eventually coming back to the mainland since 1949. Personally, I find this conflict to be an outcome of a mix of miscommunication and different beliefs and wants. Looking at a more broader perspective, these differences have a global impact on all other countries. China has insisted that other countries have contact/trade with either China or Taiwan, but never both. This includes a vast number of topics ranging from trade and the supply chain market to China forcing foreign airlines and hotels to list Taiwan as apart of China.