A senior Chinese official - the country's fourth-ranking official - said today that achieving reunification with Taiwan through peaceful means is the best option for the people, Xinhua reported, quoted by BTA.
Wang Huning, a member of the Communist Party's Politburo responsible for Taiwan relations, made the remarks during an event in Beijing marking the 80th anniversary of the "return" on the island under Chinese rule.
China will take the lead in sharing the fruits of its development and progress with the people of Taiwan, he said at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, according to Taiwan's Central News Agency (CNA).
The Taiwan Affairs Council said China was repeating "the same old message" and that China's real goal was to "annex" Taiwan.
"The Hong Kong experience also showed that the "one country, two systems" principle ultimately amounts to authoritarian rule by the Chinese Communist Party," the council said. The so-called development prospects under "unification" are of no interest to the people of Taiwan, he added.
The Taiwanese government does not officially commemorate the event, but instead celebrates the anniversary of the Battle of Gunyintou, when communist forces tried and failed to invade the island of Kinmen, which is still held by Taipei today.
"We hope to continue to be a reliable security partner for our allies and together build a strong line of defense to protect the values of freedom and democracy," President Lai Chin-te wrote on his "Facebook" page today. on the occasion of this anniversary.
China and democratically-ruled Taiwan, which Beijing considers its territory, have clashed repeatedly this year over their differing interpretations of the 80th anniversary of the end of World War II, Reuters reported.
Taiwan was a Japanese colony from 1895 to 1945, when it was handed over to the government of the Republic of China. In 1949, the government fled to the island after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong's communists. The Republic of China remains Taiwan's official name.
Taiwan's government rejects Beijing's territorial claims, saying only the island's residents can decide their future.