In New Year’s Day speech, Taiwan president warns CCP against ‘military adventurism’
Reuters
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, pictured, had a message for the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) on New Year’s Day: Military conflict is not the answer.
The People’s Republic of China claims democratically governed Taiwan as its territory and the CCP has increased military and diplomatic pressure in the past two years to assert its sovereignty claims. In response to Tsai’s message, the CCP warned that if Taiwan crossed any red line, it would lead to “profound catastrophe.”
“We must remind the Beijing authorities to not misjudge the situation and to prevent the internal expansion of ‘military adventurism,’” Tsai said during her January 1, 2022, speech, broadcast live on Facebook.
Taiwan says it is an independent country and has repeatedly vowed to defend its freedom and democracy.
In his new year’s address, delivered December 31, 2021, CCP General Secretary Xi Jinping called the complete unification of “the motherland” an aspiration shared by people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
In recent months, the CCP’s People’s Liberation Army has flown repeated air missions over the Taiwan Strait. Taiwan has said it will not give in to threats. “The military is definitely not an option for solving cross-strait disagreements. Military conflicts would impact economic stability,” Tsai said.
To ease tension in the region, Taipei and Beijing must “work hard to take care of people’s livelihoods and calm the hearts of the people” to find peaceful solutions to problems together, she said.
Tsai also said Taiwan would continue to monitor the situation in Hong Kong, adding that interference in the recent legislative election and the arrests of senior staff at the pro-democracy media outlet Stand News “made people worry even more about human rights and freedom of speech in Hong Kong.”
“We will hold fast to our sovereignty, uphold the values of freedom and democracy, defend territorial sovereignty and national security, and maintain peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region,” Tsai said.
IMAGE CREDIT: REUTERS
