HONG KONG - Xi Jinping declared on Saturday that the Taiwan independence movement is the biggest obstacle to reunification, which he vowed to realize, warning those who betray the motherland. In a speech marking the 110th anniversary of the Xinhai Revolution, Xi said the secessionist forces pose a serious hidden danger to national rejuvenation. It has never ended well for those who forget their ancestors, split the motherland or forgot the country, Beijing's president said at the Great Hall of People. They will definitely be judged by the people and exposed to history, he said, adding that no external interference should be allowed.
The Xinhai Revolution which started on Oct. 10, 1911, led to the end of a 2,000-year-old monarchy in Taiwan and established the Republic of China with the Kuomintang - who later fled to China after advances by the Communist Party.
Taiwan, formally known as the Republic of China and which Beijing considers a renegade province, commemorates the occasion as Double Ten National Day. Mainland China typically marks the day with the revolutionary leader Sun Yat-sen, but it has become more anti-Taiwan tone.
Xi's speech comes before the anniversary events in Taiwan on Sunday, and as cross-strait tensions intensify. Taiwan's defense minister said Beijing was capable of a full invasion by 2025, as record numbers of Chinese airstrikes repeatedly flew through Taiwan's air defense identification zone this week.
Quoting Sun, the state's first president, Xi said: "Unification is the hope of all Chinese citizens. If you could unite, the people of the whole country would enjoy the blessings; if you couldn't unify, you would suffer. Xi emphasized that reunification by peaceful means is most in line with the overall interests of the Taiwan nation, including the China compatriots. Observers said Xi might be trying to appeal to supporters of the Kuomintang KMT in Taiwan - now opposition to the Tsai Ing-wen Administration - by echoing Sun's words on unification, but doubted it would work.
Even KMT supporters don't want anything to do with the People's Republic of China, according to Lev Nachman, a postdoctoral researcher at Harvard's Fairbanks Center, using the mainland's official name. It is an important distinction. The democratic island has been independently governed by China since 1949, but Beijing maintains a one China principle and insists on reunification - by force if necessary.
Relations between the two sides have deteriorated since 2016, when Tsai was elected and China cut diplomatic engagements with the island. China wants to further isolate Taiwan, which is recognized mostly by 14 small nations and the Holy See, preventing it from joining international bodies such as the World Health Organization and closing Taiwan's representatives offices in Hong Kong and Macao.
Earlier this week, the U.S. stressed its commitment to Taiwan after President Joe Biden said he had spoken with Xi and agreed they would abide by the Taiwan Agreement. The U.S. switched diplomatic relations to Beijing in 1979, while promising to provide Taiwan with armed supplies for self-defense.
China proposed a one country, two systems model for Hong Kong, but Tsai has repeatedly rejected it, pointing to the failure of the arrangement in Taiwan.