CNN’s correspondent reported that David Cohen, CIA Deputy director, stated that Chinese President Xi Jinping would like his army to seize Taiwan by 2027. Cohen said, however that the agency believes China still wants peaceful reunification of the island.
Cohen’s statement was reported by CNN journalist Katie Bo Lillis, who herself said that Xi is not preparing for a certain invasion of Taiwan, but rather wants “the capability to take control of Taiwan by force.”
“He has not made the decision to do that, but he has asked his military to put him in a position where if that’s what he wanted to do, he would be able to,”Cohen’s words were quoted by Lillis. “It’s still the assessment of the [Intelligence Community] as a whole that Xi’s interest in Taiwan is to get control through nonmilitary means.”
Beijing stated publicly that it plans to unify Taiwan and the Chinese mainland through peaceful means. A white paper, published by the Chinese government in August, reiterated this promise to use non-military means. However, it reserved its right to revise. “the option of taking all necessary measures.”
Taiwan “one country, two systems”The white paper outlines the approach, and Taipei states that Taiwan’s people will decide its future.
Taiwan has managed its own affairs since 1949 when nationalist forces under Chiang Kai-shek fled the country. They lost the civil war against the Communists. The US government has officially recognized, but not endorsed, China’s sovereignty over Taiwan since the 1970s.
The Taiwan Strait tensions reached boiling point after Nancy Pelosi visited Taipei as US House Speaker. With Pelosi a member of US President Joe Biden’s political party and second in the presidential line of succession, China considered the visit a tacit endorsement of Taiwanese independence, and responded by launching large-scale military exercises around Taiwan. These drills were answered by US warships sailing across the Strait while Taiwan conducted its own military drills.
Beijing had not yet commented on recent claims as of this writing.
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