In only its third white paper on Taiwan since 1993 and the first since President Xi Jinping took office in 2012, China said on Wednesday that it will not “renounce” using military force to annex the autonomous island and instead plans to conduct routine patrols in the area as its armed forces wrapped up the largest-ever exercises around the island.
The white paper titled The Taiwan Question and China’s Reunification in the New Era stated that China would like to achieve “peaceful reunification,” but added that it “would not renounce the use of force, and we reserve the option of adopting all necessary measures.” It was made public by the information division and Taiwan relations office of the state council (China’s Cabinet).
It stated, “This is to protect against external meddling and any separatist movements,” in reference to the use of military action. It does not in any way attack our Taiwanese Chinese neighbors. Force will only be used as a last resort in urgent situations, it was emphasized.
The People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) eastern theatre command stated in a statement on Wednesday that the military exercise, which had been announced last week in reaction to US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, had finished.
The PLA has been launching missiles over the island for almost a week, and its warplanes and fighter jets have been freely violating Taiwan’s air and waterspace by flying over the fictitious midway line in the Taiwan Strait.