Taiwan will not bow to China pressure, president says after Beijing reunification call
(NBC News, Oct 11, 2021)
Taiwan will not bow to pressure from Beijing and it will keep bolstering its defenses, its president said Sunday, a day after her Chinese counterpart vowed to bring about a peaceful “reunification” with the democratic island.
Speaking at a rally to celebrate Taiwan’s National Day, President Tsai Ing-wen said her government would not “act rashly,” but “there should be absolutely no illusions that the Taiwanese people will bow to pressure,” she said.
She said she hoped for an easing of tensions across the Taiwan Strait.
Her speech, delivered outside the presidential office in central Taipei, was driven home by a rare show of Taiwan’s defense capabilities in a parade — involving a variety of weapons, including armored vehicles, fighter jets and helicopters.
Chinese President Xi Jinping promised a peaceful reunification in a speech Saturday.
“Taiwan independence separatism is the biggest obstacle to achieving the reunification of the motherland and the most serious hidden danger to national rejuvenation,” he said on the anniversary of the revolution that overthrew the last imperial dynasty in 1911.