Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen used her national holiday speech to send a clear message to Beijing.

"We are determined to oppose an annexation," she said on Sunday on a stage in front of the Presidential Palace in Taipei.

"We will continue to expand our national defense (...) so that no one can force us to follow the path that China has prepared for us."

Friederike Böge

Political correspondent for China, North Korea and Mongolia.

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China's head of state and party leader Xi Jinping outlined what this path looks like in the Great Hall of the People on Saturday. “National reunification by peaceful means is in the interests of the entire Chinese nation, including our compatriots in Taiwan.” Without naming Tsai, he had a message ready for the president: “Those who forget their origins, betray their homeland and that If you want to split the country, it will not end well, ”said Xi Jinping to loud applause. They would be "despised by the people and condemned by history".

It was no accident that Tsai Ing-wen and Xi Jinping gave their speeches on the same weekend. The occasion was a piece of shared history. The Xinhai Revolution began 110 years ago in what is now Wuhan, as a result of which the Chinese Empire was overthrown and the Republic of China was founded. The spiritual father of the revolution, Sun Yat-sen, is venerated in China and Taiwan. Less than four decades later, however, the ROC government lost the civil war against the communists and fled to Taiwan, which is officially still called the Republic of China.

Many younger Taiwanese can no longer identify with this story, which is why Tsai hardly went into it.

Instead, it recalled the island's recent history: the change from a military dictatorship to a living democracy and the rise from the poor hinterland to 21st of the largest economies in the world.

Tsai did not forget to mention the world's most valuable chip maker, TSMC, which Taiwan has viewed as a security life insurance policy not just since the recent chip shortage.

Xi speaks of "reunification"

The national holiday was overshadowed by growing military tensions with China. A few days ago, around 150 Chinese military aircraft flew into the Taiwanese airspace surveillance zone in several waves (see graphic), but without leaving international airspace. According to experts, one of China's goals is to shift Taiwan's red lines and induce a habituation effect. There are fears in Taiwan that at some point China could disguise a surprise attack as a routine mission.

On Sunday, three more flights were counted in the air surveillance zone by the evening. As usual, the Taiwanese Air Force launched its own fighter planes in response. This leads to considerable wear and tear on the aging aircraft, which China probably intended. In the meantime, Taiwan is considering dividing the air surveillance zone into a surveillance and warning zone and reacting accordingly in different stages. It is also about reducing the risk of an unwanted incident.

The fact that Xi Jinping uttered the word "peaceful" three times in connection with Taiwan on Saturday is noteworthy, but not new.

For decades, China's leaders have used the same set of bits and pieces in their speeches about Taiwan.

“Peaceful reunification” is one of them.

What is clear is that Xi's most recent speech was less militaristic than some earlier ones.

This time, for example, he did not mention China's claim to forcibly incorporate Taiwan if necessary, which has been enshrined in law since 2005.

Perhaps he wanted to smooth things over after Taiwan successfully used recent provocations to make its voice heard internationally.

At the same time, Xi once again linked “reunification” with the project with which he wants to go down in history: the “renewal of the Chinese nation”.