President Xi Jinping Promises To Realize Taiwan's Unification, President Tsai Ing-wen: No One Can Force Us

President of Taiwan Tsai Ing-wen. (Wikimedia Commons/Presidential Palace)

JAKARTA - President Tsai Ing-wen stressed that Taiwan will continue to strengthen its defenses, to ensure that nothing can force them to accept China's path that offers neither freedom nor democracy, Sunday local time.

Claimed as part of its territory by China, Taiwan is under increasing military and political pressure to accept Beijing's rule, including repeated Chinese air force missions in Taiwan's air defense identification zone (ADIZ), which are of international concern.

Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed on Saturday to achieve "peaceful reunification" with Taiwan, without directly mentioning the use of force. However, he drew an angry reaction from Taipei, which said only the Taiwanese people could decide the future.

Speaking at a National Day rally, Tsai said she hoped to ease tensions in the Taiwan Strait, insisting Taiwan would not act rashly.

"But, there should be no illusion that the Taiwanese people will bow to pressure," she said in a speech outside the presidential office in central Taipei.

"We will continue to strengthen our national defense, showing our determination to defend ourselves to ensure that no one can force Taiwan to take the path that China has laid out for us," Tsai added.

"This is because the path that China has set does not offer a free and democratic way of life for Taiwan, or sovereignty for our 23 million people," she said.

China has offered Taiwan a 'one country, two systems' model of autonomy, as it used with Hong Kong, but all of Taiwan's major parties have rejected it, especially after China's security crackdown in the former British colony.

Tsai repeated offers to talk to China on an equal basis, but Beijing, responding about nine hours after she spoke, offered criticism, saying the country should be reunited, and that seeking independence closed the door to talks.

"This speech advocates Taiwan independence, incites confrontation, cuts history, and distorts facts," China's Taiwan Affairs Office said.

"The provocation of independence by the authorities of the Democratic Progressive Party is a source of tension and turbulence, in cross-strait relations and the greatest threat to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait," he added, referring to Taiwan's ruling party.

Beijing has refused to deal with Tsai, calling her a separatist who refuses to recognize Taiwan is part of one China, and does not recognize the Taiwanese government.

President Tsai said Taiwan was an independent country called the Republic of China, its official name, and that she would not compromise to defend its sovereignty or freedoms.

According to her, Taiwan's wishes will not change, it will do all it can to prevent the status quo with China from being changed unilaterally.

In addition, President Tsai warned that Taiwan's situation is more complex and fluid than at any other point in the past 72 years, with China's routine military presence in Taiwan's air defense zones having seriously affected national security and aviation safety.

She oversees the military's modernization program to improve its defense and deterrence, including building its own submarines and long-range missiles that can strike deep into China.

The armed forces were a major part of Tsai's overseen National Day parade, with fighter jets roaring through the skies over the presidential office and truck-mounted missile launchers among other weaponry passing in front of the stage where she sat.

"Taiwan stands at the forefront of defending democracy," added Tsai. "The more we achieve, the more pressure we face from China. So I want to remind all citizens, we have no privilege to be careless," she stressed.