- Title: China president vows to fight attempts by territories to separate
- Date: 11th November 2016
- Summary: ***WARNING CONTAINS FLASH PHOTOGRAPHY*** XI WALKING AWAY AND SHAKING HANDS WITH OFFICIALS
- Embargoed: 26th November 2016 06:19
- Keywords: China Sun Yat Sen territorial disputes
- Location: BEIJING, CHINA
- City: BEIJING, CHINA
- Country: China
- Topics: Government/Politics
- Reuters ID: LVA0035801OW5
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text: Chinese President Xi Jinping vowed on Friday (November 11) to fight any attempts by territories to separate from China, at a conference commemorating the 150th birth anniversary of revolutionary Sun Yat-sen.
Since May, when Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen and her Democratic Progressive Party, which traditionally favours independence from the mainland, took power in Taiwan, China has suspended official communication channels, until Taiwan agrees to recognize the "one-China" policy.
"All activities attempting to split the country will definitely be strongly opposed by all Chinese people. We will resolutely not allow anyone, any organization, any party to split any bit of territory from China, in any way at any time," Xi address Chinese officials at Beijing's Great Hall of the People.
Sun, founder of the Kuomintang, whose forces led by Chiang Kai-shek fled to Taiwan in 1949, is highly regarded in both Taiwan and China.
As Communist Party Chief, Xi met Taiwan's Nationalist Party chairwoman Hung Hsiu-chu when she visited Beijing early this month during an annual party-to-party gathering about economic and cultural ties.
China is embarking on a divide-and-rule campaign on self-ruled Taiwan, offering to boost tourism to pro-Beijing towns and counties while giving the new pro-independence government the cold shoulder.
China has claimed sovereignty over Taiwan since 1949, when Mao Zedong's Communist forces won the Chinese civil war and Chiang Kai-shek's Nationalists fled to the island. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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