Xi Jinping's Government Publishes White Paper On Taiwan Issue: If China Can't Be Unified, 'All Will Suffer'

Amid tensions across the Taiwan strait, Xi Jinping's government on Wednesday published a white paper titled "The Taiwan Question and China's Reunification in the New Era," claiming that the island nation has "belonged to China since ancient times."

What Happened: The Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council and the State Council Information Office of the People's Republic of China in the paper said "all will suffer" if there is no unification, according to the official state press agency Xinhua.

"Unification brings strength while division leads to chaos," the paper read. 

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The paper invoked the words of Dr. Sun Yat-sen, the first provisional president of the Republic of China and the first leader of the Kuomintang: "Unification is the hope of all Chinese nationals. If China can be unified, all Chinese will enjoy a happy life; if it cannot, all will suffer."

The white paper reiterated the Chinese government's narrative on the island nation and called Taiwan an integral part of China. 

It added that Xi's Communist Party is committed to the "historic mission" of resolving the Taiwan question and realizing China's complete reunification.

China has a single seat at the United Nations, so there is no such thing as "two Chinas" or "one China, one Taiwan," the white paper said. "We are one China, and Taiwan is part of China. This is an indisputable fact supported by history and the law."

The government said Taiwan must reunite with Mainland China to protect itself from "external forces" that have intensified cross-Straits tension and undermined peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region.

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