Taiwanese President Tsai Ing -wen had a New Year\u2019s message for China on Saturday: military conflict is not the answer, but Beijing responded with a stern warning that if Taiwan crossed the red line it would lead to \u201csevere disaster\u201d.
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China claims to democratically govern Taiwan as its own territory and increased military and diplomatic pressure in the past two years to assert its sovereignty claim.
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\u201cWe must remind the Beijing authorities not to blame the situation and prevent the internal expansion of\u2018 military adventure \u2019,\u201d Tsai said Saturday in his New Year\u2019s speech, broadcast live on Facebook.
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Taiwan states that it is an independent country and has repeatedly vowed to defend its freedom and democracy.
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Chinese President Xi Jinping said in a New Year\u2019s speech on Friday that the complete unification of the \u201cmotherland\u201d is an aspiration shared by people on both sides of the Taiwan Strait.
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On Saturday, after Tsai\u2019s speech, Zhu Fenglian, a spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office in Beijing, said: \u201cWe are willing to strive for the prospect of peaceful reunification.\u201d
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\u201cBut if the \u2018Taiwan independence\u2019 separatist forces continue to provoke and coerce, or even cross the red line, we must take important action.\u201d
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Pursuing independence will only throw Taiwan into a \u201cdeep abyss\u201d and cause \u201csevere disasters\u201d, Zhu added.
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In recent months, Beijing has sent air missions in the Taiwan Strait. Taiwan has said it will not give in to the threat.
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\u201cThe military is definitely not an option to resolve cross-strait disagreements. Military conflict will impact economic stability,\u201d Tsai said.
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To ease tensions in the region, Taipei and Beijing should \u201cwork hard to take care of people\u2019s livelihoods and calm people\u2019s hearts\u201d in order to find peaceful solutions to common problems, he said.
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Tsai also stated that Taiwan will continue to monitor the situation in Hong Kong, adding that disruptions in the recent legislative elections and the arrest of senior staff this week at the pro-democracy media outlet Stand News \u201cmake people more worried about human rights and freedoms speech in Hong Kong \u201c.
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\u201cWe will hold fast to our sovereignty, uphold the values \u200b\u200bof freedom and democracy, maintain regional sovereignty and national security, and maintain peace and stability in the Indo-Pacific region,\u201d Tsai said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n