The Republic of China was founded in Beijing – which was then known as Peking – in 1912. After the nationalist KMT lost the civil war to Mao's communists in 1949 they treated to the island of Formosa, now known as Taiwan.
China will stay resolute in deterring those seeking “Taiwan independence,” according to a draft outline of the 14th Five-Year Plan which was published on Friday, 5 March.
The plan, which sets out national economic and social development objectives between 2021 and 2025 and long-range objectives through to 2035, was approved by China's President, Xi Jinping.
For the last 70 years China and Taiwan have lived as hostile neighbours, with Beijing and its People's Liberation Army (PLA) glaring at the rebellious island but never going so far as to invade it, largely because Taipei has had a stalwart ally in the United States.
On the Taiwanese government's website it states: “Since (1949) the Republic of China (ROC) has continued to exercise effective jurisdiction over the main island of Taiwan and a number of outlying islands, leaving Taiwan and China each under the rule of a different government. The authorities in Beijing have never exercised sovereignty over Taiwan or other islands administered by the ROC.”
But in recent years several Taiwanese nationalist politicians on the island have been pressing for Taipei to declare independence from the mainland.
Such a move would be seen as a declaration of war by Beijing, which is happy to…
