Chinese President Xi Jinping called for the mobilization of "patriots" in Taiwan and elsewhere to prevent the pro-independence efforts on the self-governing island.
According to Bloomberg, the remarks were made during a Wednesday (Mar. 6) meeting between Xi and the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang, a political group that's based on the mainland and distinct from Taiwan's main opposition party, KMT, on the sidelines of China's annual "Two Sessions."
Xi urged the group, which allied itself with the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP), to unite "all patriots from home and abroad, in and out of Taiwan" to ramp up its opposition to Taiwanese independence and to jointly advance the peaceful reunification of China.
Xi's China Implements Tougher Stance vs. Taiwan
However, the phrase "peaceful reunification," which was widely seen as a benign sign of China's policy approach toward the island, was missing from the government's Two Sessions report this year, but pledged to implement the CCP's Taiwan strategy, signaling that Xi's words were a more authoritative guide to China's attitude towards the island.
Tensions across the Taiwan Strait had significantly escalated since mid-2022 when then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei and met with top leaders. The tension then came to a head when Taiwanese Vice President William Lai Ching-te, whom the Communist leadership has condemned as a "troublemaker" who sought formal independence, won Taiwan's presidential election.
Nevertheless, Xi called for deeper cooperation with Taiwan in technology, agriculture, culture, and youth development, Chinese state news agency Xinhua said in a readout of Wednesday's meeting.
