For Taiwan people, the idea ‘one country, two systems’ is unacceptable, that is why the respective deal with China was rejected by Tsai Ing-wen. On Wednesday, the president strongly rejected China’s sovereignty claims and likely setting the stage for an ever-worsening of ties.
Taiwan’s decision caused the quick reaction, Beijing responded that “reunification” was inevitable and that it would never tolerate Taiwan’s independence.
President Tsai said in her speech that relations between Taiwan and China had reached an historical turning point. The nation’s leader has confirmed her readiness to have a duty to find a way to coexist over the long term. After being sworn in for her second and final term in office, Tsai on Wednesday reiterated that both Taiwan and China should prevent the intensification of antagonism and differences.
Mrs Tsai and her Democratic Progressive Party won January’s presidential and parliamentary elections by a landslide, vowing to stand up to China, which claims Taiwan as its own and says it would be brought under Beijing’s control by force if needed.
“Here, I want to reiterate the words ‘peace, parity, democracy, and dialogue’. We will not accept the Beijing authorities’ use of ‘one country, two systems’ to downgrade Taiwan and undermine the cross-strait status quo. We stand fast by this principle,” Tsai said.
China’s “one country, two systems” policy is unbearable for Taiwanese
China views Tsai as a separatist bent on formal independence for Taiwan. Tsai says Taiwan is an independent state called the Republic of China, its official name, and does not want to be part of the People’s Republic of China governed by Beijing.
Beijing uses the “one country, two systems” policy, which is supposed to guarantee a high degree of autonomy, to run the former British colony of Hong Kong, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997. It has offered it to Taiwan, though all major Taiwanese parties have rejected it.
Despite Tsai’s claims, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said Beijing would stick to “one country, two systems” – a central tenet of Chinese President Xi Jinping’s Taiwan policy. The office added that reunification is a historical inevitability of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation
“We have the firm will, full confidence, and sufficient ability to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity,” the official statement reads.
