Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou calls on China to remove missiles pointing at his country, and reaffirms commitment to reconciliation with the his communist neighbour in his National Day address.
On Sunday Taiwan celebrated the 99th anniversary of its founding.
President Ma Ying-jeou gave his National Day address, urging China to remove missiles pointing at the island, and reaffirming his commitment to improving ties with Beijing.
Ma Ying-jeou reassured the nation that despite closer cooperation with communist China, his government is taking careful measures to guarantee the country's independence.
Taiwan is also known as The Republic of China.
[Ma Ying-jeou, President of Taiwan]:
"We will continue to strengthen the cross-strait exchange in economy, culture and society and thus continue to build up mutual trust, always aiming at the easing of tensions in the Taiwan Strait. Today it is still impossible for China and Taiwan to mutually recognize the other on a legal basis. But it is also necessary not to deny the other's existence to make a fruitful discourse possible.”
Beijing has regarded Taiwan as its own territory since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949.
The Republic of China was officially established on January 1, 1912, but the national day was set to October 10, to commemorate the date of the Wuchang uprising of 1911, which led to the end of China’s last dynasty, the Qing.