China committed to peaceful reunification: official

Taipei, Feb. 28 (CNA) The Chinese government remains committed to the promotion of peaceful reunification of the two sides of the Taiwan Strait, as it seeks to abolish term limits on the presidency to allow current President Xi Jinping to stay in power indefinitely, according to China's Taiwan Affairs Office (TAO).

TAO spokesman An Fengshan (安峰山) said Wednesday that China will continue to push for the peaceful development of relations across the Taiwan Strait and for the progress of a "peaceful reunification," in response to how a constitutional amendment on term limits may affect cross-strait relations.

According to An, resolving the Taiwan issue and unifying all the territory China thinks belongs to it has to do with the Chinese people's rights and the country's "return to greatness."

The statement comes on the same day that Taiwan former presidents Lee Teng-hui (李登輝) and Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) voiced their support for an initiative to hold a referendum in April 2019 on Taiwan independence, even though issues of sovereignty cannot, under Taiwan's Referendum Act, be decided via referendum.