No room for compromise on reunification: China Daily editorial

For years Beijing has reiterated and acted on its stance that it favors peaceful reunification of Taiwan with the motherland, while at the same time making clear that it will never tolerate any attempt to secede the island under any name or by any means.

"We have patience and will strive for the prospect of peaceful reunification with utmost sincerity and efforts," President Xi Jinping told US president Joe Biden in a virtual meeting on Nov 16, last year.

But he made clear that "should the separatist forces for 'Taiwan independence' provoke us, force our hands or even cross the redline, we will be compelled to take resolute measures."

Appearing at the annual House of Representatives Intelligence Committee hearing on worldwide threats on Tuesday, Director of the US Central Intelligence Agency William Burns was effectively asked whether Beijing's stance might have softened seeing what has unfolded in Ukraine.

Burns was asked whether he thought there might be room for the United States to have a more "productive" conversation with Beijing over Taiwan — which means a possible compromise on China's reunification cause — given the scale of the condemnation of Russia's "special military operation" in Ukraine and the damage the Russian economy has suffered as a result of sanctions.

Burns made it clear he did not.

"I would not underestimate … the Chinese leadership's determination with regard to Taiwan", he said.

Burns said he believed there had been "an impact on the Chinese calculus with regard to Taiwan and which we obviously are going to continue to pay careful attention to", but what they think that might be he didn't say.

Of course, Beijing is fully aware of the possible consequences of any military action, but that does not alter its redline. It pursues peaceful reunification, for that best serves the nation's development cause and is in the fundamental interests of people on both sides of the Straits. Nonetheless, it will not hesitate to use force if necessary.

What is in the best interests of the Chinese people is not even on the radar of those who simply view the island as a useful piece on the US' geopolitical game board. Former US secretary of state Mike Pompeo during a visit to Taiwan early this month called on Washington to diplomatically recognize the island as a "sovereign" nation, which would be a recipe for disaster.

Beijing has repeatedly said that the reunification of the country can and will be realized. Any parties thinking of testing whether those words hold true should fully consider the consequences of doing so.