China has tried for decades to suffocate Taiwan’s attempts to assert independence. These efforts have intensified under President Xi Jinping, who has now set out red lines to any outside power, notably the United States, contemplating support for the self-governed democracy.
Mr Xi, speaking on the 40th anniversary of a key Taiwan policy statement yesterday, strongly hinted that Beijing was ready to go to war if there is resistance to the eventual formal merger of China and Taiwan. It would, he said, not tolerate any “external interference”, nor would it promise to renounce the use of force. The Taiwanese people had to understand the inevitability of becoming part of the sovereign state of China and any attempts to build up an independent existence would end…