Amid heightened tensions between China and Taiwan, Chinese President Xi Jinping told a former Taiwanese president who supports unification that the countries “belong” together.
“Differences in systems cannot change the fact that both sides of the Taiwan Straits belong to the same country and nation,” Xi said.
“External interference cannot stop the historical trend of reunion of the country and family,” Xi said, in comments reported by Taiwanese media and published by Reuters.
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Beijing claims the independent island of Taiwan is a Chinese province and has threatened to use force to achieve unification. China frequently sends warplanes and naval vessels to circle the small island democracy and has been mounting an increasing number of military drills over recent years.
Only a small minority identify themselves as “Chinese not Taiwanese” nowadays. According to the latest public surveys (News article, Survey source, has English in the graphs), only 2.4% think that way (declining), 61% identify as Taiwanese (rising), and 32% as both (declining). And then you compare it to the unify-indipendence survey and see that a combined 60% still prefer the status quo, with independence behind at 25%, and unify at 10%. KMT may still have a large voter base in TW, but Chinese nationalism isn’t the only reason people vote for them. You would want to look at 中華統一促進黨 for true Chinese nationalism and PRC sympathisers.