China's Xi calls for peaceful reunification with Taiwan

BEIJING: Chinese leader Xi Jinping said on Saturday that reunification with Taiwan must happen and will happen peacefully, despite a ratcheting-up of China's threats to attack the island.

Xi spoke at an official celebration in Beijing's Great Hall of the People that focused largely on the need for the ruling Communist Party to continue to lead China as the country gains more power and influence.

"Compatriots on both sides of the Strait should stand on the right side of history and jointly create the glorious cause of the complete reunification of the motherland and the great rejuvenation of the nation," Xi said.

The celebration was marking the 110th anniversary of the Chinese revolution in 191, that led to the overthrow of the Qing dynasty and the establishment of the Republic of China led by Sun Yat-sen.

October 10 is celebrated in Taiwan as National Day and Xi's address touched on common aspirations for a unified future, despite stark differences between China's authoritarian one-party system and Taiwan's vibrant multi-party democracy.

Xi's remarks came just days after the Chinese military sent a record number of military aircraft towards Taiwan in exercises that the self-ruled island has called a threat.

Over the course of four days, starting last week, the People's Liberation Army flew fighter jets, bombers and airborne early warning aircraft 149 times towards Taiwan, with the largest maneuver involving 52 jets at once.

Taiwan and China split in 1949 amid a civil war, with the then-ruling Nationalist Party fleeing to the island as Mao Zedong's Communists swept to power on the mainland.

Since then, Taiwan has been self-ruled, but its sovereignty is denied by Beijing, which has refused to renounce the option of using force to bring the island under its control.

Beijing has also sought to isolate Taiwan internationally by barring it from the United Nations and other international organizations and opposing official contacts between its government and nations that recognize China, especially the United States, which is legally bound to consider threats against Taipei a matter of "grave concern."

"Taiwanese independence and separatism are the biggest obstacles to the motherland's reunification," Xi added, saying those who advocated for independence would be "condemned by history."

"The historical mission of the reunification of the motherland must be realized and will definitely be realized," Xi concluded.