© Getty/Mark Schiefelbein-Pool

Chinese President Xi Jinping ordered the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) to prepare for battle on Friday, as Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-Wen called for international support to defend the island’s democracy amid renewed threats of unification from the mainland. President Tsai Ing-wen of Taiwan responded vigorously to a speech this week by Chinese Communist Party chief Xi Jinping announcing that China would no longer tolerate Taiwan’s sovereignty, urging Xi to “bravely move towards democracy” and “face the reality of the existence of the Republic of China.”

In his speech on Tuesday, Xi called Taiwanese independence a “dead end” and warned that, in 2019, China would no longer accept the status quo. Tsai condemned Xi’s comments and rejected the Chinese President’s “one country, two systems” proposal, telling reporters in Taipei: “We hope that the international community takes it seriously and can voice support and help us.” If a democratic country under threat does not receive assistance, “we might have to ask which country might be next?” Tsai said. Four senior figures from the hardline faction of Tsai’s pro-independence Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) endorsed an open letter, published on Thursday in several local newspapers, which warned of a party split if she insisted on standing again. The comments come just days after Xi declared that Taiwan is absolutely a part of China, encouraged unification between the two territories and reserved the right to use force to bring the self-ruled island under the mainland's control.
Chinese Communist Party general secretary Xi Jinping orders the country's armed forces to be ready for battle following President of the Republic of China (Taiwan) Tsai Ing-wen's call for international support to defend the self-ruled island’s democracy after rejecting of the one country, two systems principle.