China Warns West as Report Promises to Resolve 'Taiwan Question'
Source: Newsweek
The Chinese government warned Saturday against foreign interference in its relations with Taiwan as it released a new report pledging to resolve the issue of Taiwanese independence "in the modern era."
The issue of Taiwanese independence has long put China at odds with many Western nations, as China considers Taiwan to be part of its nation—staunchly opposing any independence movements. Taiwanese leaders, however, consider the island to be its own country, making the relationship between the two all the more difficult.
During remarks at the opening of China's parliament meeting, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang stood by the "One China" principle, which states that Taiwan is part of a unified China.
"We will advance the peaceful growth of relations across the Taiwan Strait and the reunification of China," he said, according to Reuters. "We firmly oppose any separatist activities seeking 'Taiwan independence' and firmly oppose foreign interference," adding, "All of us, Chinese on both sides of the Taiwan Strait, should come together to advance the great and glorious cause of China's rejuvenation."
Read more: https://www.newsweek.com/china-warns-west-report-promises-resolve-taiwan-question-1685219
Interesting timing on this, no?
Clearly an attempt to pressure supporters of our democratic ally Taiwan to back off.
= new reply since forum marked as read
While Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24th, 9 days ago.
An honest assessment is that invading Ukraine is a major major undertaking and the Russian advances are not that much slower than the US's during the Iraq war, certainly in the same rough ballpark.
And Ukraine is bigger than Iraq, larger than Texas in fact.
It's important to realize how large Ukraine is: 784.93 miles wide and 346.4 miles long.
And Ukraine has more people than Iraq, 44 million compared to 28 million.
It's important to not get caught up in the news cycle that expects things to all happen instantly and to underestimate the Russian threat.
Russia is progressing relentlessly in their invasion and Ukraine needs more help, that is the fact of the matter.
China asked little pooty to wait until after the Olympics??? Bunch of fucking bastards for sure! 
March 5, 2022
Russian attacks on nuclear sites could destabilize Ukraine’s energy supply
Russian forces attacked the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant on March 3 and are now reportedly pushing toward the South Ukraine nuclear power plant. These are Ukraine’s two largest nuclear power plants, together responsible for one-third of Ukraine’s electricity generation.
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/world/europe/ukraine-maps.html
Don't be fooled, the Russian invasion is on going and relentless.
This is just day 9 of the Russian invasion so perhaps it's informative to remember that it took the US 19 days to capture Baghdad in the Iraq War.
President Zelensky has been making daily and sometimes hourly statements on how drastic the situation actually is for Ukraine.
I believe him whole heartedly.
Ukraine needs more help now, the entire country is in danger.
Do you think Putin and Xi are in their right minds?
I do not doubt that he would use nuclear weapons on Taiwan if he felt the need.
China is committed to “resolving the Taiwan question in the new era,” it said in its annual government report issued Saturday, using sharper wording than in previous such reports amid debate among foreign-policy experts over whether Beijing would attempt a takeover of the self-ruled island similar to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Beijing’s annual work report traditionally includes a couple of paragraphs declaring that the government will continue working toward the unification of Taiwan. This is the first year since President Xi Jinping came to power a decade ago that this section of the annual report includes a time frame — “in the new era” — although it’s unclear how long a period this means.
The stronger wording is in line with Beijing’s signals of impatience on Taiwan over the past few years, which have alarmed residents of the island. Xi said in 2019 that “we should not allow this problem to be passed down from one generation to the next.”
Huang Kwei-bo, associate professor of diplomacy at Taiwan’s National Chengchi University, said the term “in the new era” was closely associated with Xi’s rule and has been showing up more often in various contexts.
Huang said Xi likely wants to send the message that he “is ready to deal with both old and new problems in the new era.”
Saturday’s report also repeated previous language on advancing “the peaceful growth of relations across the Taiwan Strait” and opposing “separatist activities.”
Russia's war in Ukraine has created ripples around the world, revealing an undercurrent of concern among the people of Taiwan that they, too, could be vulnerable to invasion.
Chinese leader Xi Jinping's refusal to criticise Vladimir Putin's war has raised concerns that Beijing is watching Russia's invasion with an eye to a future conflict for control of the island.
Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen has played down comparisons with Ukraine, using a speech last week to declare "fundamental differences", including the "natural barrier of the Taiwan Strait".
While many Taiwanese analysts share her assessment, there are still uneasy parallels, including authoritarian leaders who stoke nationalism, historical claims to territory and a focus on specific leaders and parties as valid targets.
"China's passive role in this Ukraine crisis is very embarrassing and awkward," said Kuo Yujen, a China specialist at National Sun Yat-sen University in Taipei.
"But I definitely believe China will study at least two things from it: Putin's military strategy and the responses of the US and the international community."
https://www.msn.com/en-au/news/australia/taiwan-is-watching-russias-war-in-ukraine-warily-with-fears-chinas-xi-jinping-could-learn-from-vladimir-putins-strategy/ar-AAUAmoM?ocid=uxbndlbing
Also, China has a much larger toolkit to achieve whatever goals they have. And if at some point they do decide war is the only solution, they are still pretty unproven, and this Russian mess might give them some pause. Although, I'm sure they are taking notes. They seem pretty good at learning from others (passively and actively) I'm not sure if they would get the same economic hit as Russia is getting, though. Might makes right, and China is a mighty economic power. Is it much different than when the US invaded Iraq? Many wagged their fingers and said bad bad bad, but were there any real consequences outside of the ones we gave ourselves by starting that needless war? But even if they are not hit as bad economically, it's not going to be nice when they lose their biggest trading partner (us). Given all the investments and other activities they have around the globe, it's hard to see them put that at risk just so they look like huge assholes to the world when they think they have other means of getting what they want.
But I'm just a dork on the internet who likes to type nonsense. 
I like to add the disclaimer to everything I write so that no one takes anything I say as being anything other than things I think of when taking a shower...and doing a #2...but only if my phone isn't on me.
