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China does not renouse use of force to reunify with Taiwan, Xi Jinping says

Tensions escalated in the region following US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan on August 2-3

BEIJING, October 16. /TASS/. China seeks peaceful reunification with Taiwan but does not renounce the use of force, Chinese President Xi Jinping said at the opening ceremony of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China on Sunday.

"We strive for the prospect of peaceful reunification with the greatest sincerity and the utmost effort, but we will never renounce the use of force," he noted.

Taiwan has been governed by its local administration since 1949 when the remaining Kuomintang forces led by Chiang Kai-shek (1887-1975) fled to the island after suffering a defeat in China’s civil war. Since then, Taiwan has preserved the flag and some other symbols of the Republic of China that had existed in mainland China before the Communists came to power. Beijing regards the island as one of its provinces and this position is supported by most countries, including Russia. Tensions escalated in the region following US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan on August 2-3.

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