China will offer firm support for "patriotic pro-reunification forces" in Taiwan and strike hard against "separatists", the top Chinese official in charge of policy towards the democratically-governed island said on Tuesday (10 February).
China views Taiwan as its own territory despite objections from the government in Taipei, and it has stepped up military and political pressure on the island as Beijing seeks to assert its sovereignty claims.
Addressing this year’s annual 'Taiwan Work Conference', China's ruling Communist Party’s fourth-ranked leader Wang Huning said officials must advance the “great cause of national reunification,” state-run Xinhua reported. The conference was held in Beijing on Monday and Tuesday.
It is necessary to “firmly support the patriotic pro-unification forces on the island, resolutely strike against ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces, Wang said, according to Xinhua.
While the report made no mention of the use of force, China has never renounced using military means to bring Taiwan under its control. However, the Chinese defence ministry struck a stronger note commenting on Taiwanese military deployments.
"If the 'Taiwan independence' armed forces dare to provoke a conflict, they will inevitably be wiped out," ministry spokesperson Jiang Bin said on Tuesday in Beijing.
China has long offered Taiwan a Hong Kong-style "one country, two systems" model of autonomy, though no major Taiwanese political party supports that.
Taiwan's government says Beijing's rule in the former British colony has only brought repression, with Taiwan President Lai Ching-te on Tuesday citing the sentencing of Hong Kong tycoon Jimmy Lai to 20 years prison the previous day.
"Jimmy Lai's sentencing exposes the Hong Kong national security law for what it is - a tool of political persecution under China's 'one country, two systems' that tramples human rights & freedom of press," Lai wrote on X.
There was no immediate response to Wang Huning's comments from Taiwan's government, which says only the island's people can decide their future.
Wang also said Beijing would facilitate and enhance people-to-people and grassroots exchanges across the Taiwan Strait, signalling an effort to pair political pressure with engagement aimed at Taiwanese society.
Beijing has repeatedly warned other countries including the U.S. against meddling in the Taiwan issue, which it said is its internal affair.
In a call with U.S. President Donald Trump last week, China's President Xi Jinping said the Taiwan issue is the most important issue in China-U.S. relations and Washington must handle the issue of arms sales to Taiwan with prudence.
The Trump administration announced in December the largest-ever U.S. weapons package for Taiwan, valued at $11.1 billion.
China refuses to speak to Taiwan's president and has rebuffed his repeated offers of talks, saying he is a "separatist" who must accept that Taiwan is part of China.
Wang was speaking just a week after meeting a delegation from Taiwan's largest opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), who were in Beijing for a meeting of party think-tanks.
KMT Vice Chairman Hsiao Hsu-tsen spoke to reporters early on Tuesday in Taipei before he led the delegation to Beijing and said there had been no discussion of political issues when they met Wang, as the trip there was to discuss topics such as tourism and artificial intelligence (AI).
Opposition contacts
Wang’s comments came a week after he met a delegation from Taiwan’s largest opposition party, the Kuomintang (KMT), which travelled to Beijing for talks between party-linked think tanks.
Speaking to reporters in Taipei, KMT Vice Chairman Hsiao Hsu-tsen said political issues were not discussed during the visit, adding that talks focused instead on areas such as tourism and artificial intelligence.
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