Putin Backs China's Taiwan Policy：China Needs Not Use Military Force to Achieve Unification
China Times, October 14, 2021
President Vladimir Putin of Russia said to a United States reporter during the Russia Energy Week conference on October 13 that China is a huge and powerful economy, and through economic strength, China is fully capable of achieving its goal to unify Taiwan. China does not need to use force, so there is no threat of war at the present time. This is the second time in a row that Russia expressed its attitudes on Taiwan issue, and actively responded to China’s policy of peaceful unification with Taiwan.
According to foreign media, the tension of Taiwan Strait has escalated because of the intensive incursions of Chinese war planes into Taiwan’s southwestern air defense identification zone (ADIZ). Chinese President Xi Jinping recently stressed that China is committed to the fundamental policy of peaceful unification under “One Country, Two Systems” towards Taiwan.
Putin said during an interview with CNBC that Mr. Xi implied the possibility of peaceful unification and China’s “philosophy of statehood”, and these statements implied that there is no threat of military conflict in the Taiwan Strait at the present time.
Mr. Putin stated that he thinks China does not need to use force. He said that China is a huge powerful economy, and in terms of purchasing power parity, China is number one economy in the world ahead of the United States now.
Mr. Putin said that through this economic potential, China can achieve its goal of national unification, so he does not see any possible military threats.
Responding to a reporter’s question on October 12 about China’s actions on Taiwan and its intent of unification, Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that Russia, like the overwhelming majority of other countries, considers Taiwan as part of People’s Republic of China, and Russia’s policy starts from this point. Spokesman Zhao Lijian of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said he highly appreciated Lavrov’s attitudes towards Taiwan.
President Putin also commented on Taiwan issue in June this year when he was interviewed by an NBC reporter of the United States. Putin was asked that if China invaded Taiwan, what will Russia’s reaction be. Putin laughed at that time and said that he knew nothing about China solving the Taiwan issue by force.
Mr. Putin emphasized that politics does not use subjunctive mood, and it is not appropriate. He said he cannot comment on this issue because it has not happened yet. He said, in the past, China and the United States separately developed relations with Taiwan by different approaches. Fortunately, that does not lead to military clash.
The outside world has discussed that China may follow Russia’s tactics of annexing the Crimea area from the Ukraine by quickly occupying Taiwan’s offshore islands and unify Taiwan. When Putin was asked about this issue before, he always expressed his support for China’s Taiwan policy, and he did not believe that there is a realistic possibility of war in the Taiwan Strait as hyped by the Western media. This time Mr. Putin emphasized that China does not need to risk the use of force to unify with Taiwan.
From: https://www.chinatimes.com/realtimenews/20211014005263-260409?chdtv