In this episode of the Perspective Prog. based on China-Taiwan Rift. Democratically ruled Taiwan has complained of stepped-up military and political pressure from Beijing to force it to accept Chinese rule. Over the last weekend, Chinese President Xi Jinping reiterated a vow to reunify Taiwan. This was followed by People’s Liberation Army Daily’s official newspaper in a brief report on its Weibo microblogging account, saying China’s military had carried out beach landing and assault drills in the province directly across the sea from Taiwan, though it did not link these exercises to current tensions with Taipei. According to reports China’s air force has also carried out a series of aerial intrusions into Taiwan’s Air Defence Identification Zone recently with a record 38 aircraft on October 1, when China marked its National Day, followed by 39 on October 2, 16 on October 3 and 56 on October 4. While Taiwan’s Defence Minister described the current tensions between the two nations as the worst in 40 years, Taiwanese President has said that her country will not be forced to bow to China. China claims Taiwan as part of its national territory although the island has been self-ruled since it split from the communist-ruled mainland in 1949 after a long civil war.
Guests:
1. Srikanth Kondapalli, Professor, Center For East Asian Studies, SIS, JNU
2. Alok Bansal, Director, India Foundation
3. Liu Roger, Associate Professor, International Studies, Flame University, Pune
Anchor: Vishal Dahiya
Producer: Amit Srivastav, Sagheer Ahmad
