Agencies

Chinese President Xi Jinping yesterday vowed to realise peaceful “reunification” with Taiwan, though did not directly mention the use of force after a week of tensions with the Chinese-claimed island that sparked international concern.

Taiwan responded shortly after by calling on Beijing to abandon its coercion, reiterating that only Taiwan’s people could decide their future.

Self-governed Taiwan, which has never formally declared independence, lives under the constant threat of invasion by China, which views the island as its territory and has vowed to one day seize it, by force if necessary.

“Realising national reunification by peaceful means best serves the interests of the nation as a whole including our brethren in Taiwan,” Xi said in a speech marking the 110th anniversary of a revolution that ended millennia of imperial rule and led to the founding of the Republic of China.

A large portrait of Sun Yat-sen, the western-educated doctor who founded the Republic of China, which remains the formal name of Taiwan, towered over the stage as Xi spoke.

Sun led the 1911 toppling of the Qing empire, seen as the forerunner to the eventual Communist revolution, making him one of the few figures revered on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.

“The complete reunification of our country will be and can be realised,” Xi said.

He also warned against foreign interference in Taiwan after a Pentagon official confirmed US special operations forces have been quietly training Taiwanese troops for months.