Taiwan Rejects China’s One Country, Two Systems Plan for the Island

Taiwan rejected the Chinese proposal for “one country, two systems” to reunite the disputed islands with the Chinese mainland.

According to the Sydney Morning Herald, Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen stated Wednesday that China issued its white paper “in a wishful thinking manner, disregarding the reality of cross-strait situations.”

These comments were made as China released its first whitepaper, which outlines China’s national defense strategy, against Taiwan over the past two decades. China State Council suggested a system where Taiwan would reunite with China’s mainland under the control of the Chinese Communist Party but would still be allowed to maintain its capitalist system. According to the document, the solution would require China to swear off the use of force to seize the island.

Joanne Ou, Taiwan Foreign Ministry spokesperson, also rejected the idea Wednesday. She stated in a news conference the only people of Taiwan could decide their future and claimed that China was using Nancy Pelosi’s trip to Taiwan as an excuse to “create a new normality that intimidates Taiwan’s people.” Reuters reports.

China has been conducting a series of military drills in the past week as a response to Pelosi’s visit. They even sent planes and warships to the Taiwan Strait’s median, which for decades has been an unofficial boundary between the militaries of Taiwan and China.

Pelosi responded to China’s tactics on Thursday by arguing that the U.S. can’t allow China’s new force position around the island to become a “new normal”.

Pelosi stated, “What we saw was that China was trying to establish a sort of a new norm.” “And that’s something we can’t allow to happen.”

Taiwanese military officials said Thursday that the threat from China remains high, despite China’s Wednesday announcement that it had completed “multiple tasks” around Taiwan. This could indicate that China intends to reduce military drills.

According to Reuters, Tsai stated that “at present, the threat from Chinese military force hasn’t decreased.”