Taiwan told China Friday to pick another birthday gift for itself in response to China chairperson Xi Jinping's threats to crush Taiwan independence. The statement came from a representative of the office of Taiwan's president.
In an hourlong speech from Xi Thursday to mark the centennial of the Communist Party Xi said China would never let go of the "One China" principle," the "1992 Consensus," the advancement of "complete unification" and the need to "crush any Taiwan independence plot."
Presidential representative Kolas Yotaka said in response the CCP "wants Taiwan for their 100th birthday." She told China to "just pick something else" and "grow up."
"The United States will continue to support a peaceful resolution of cross-Strait issues, consistent with the wishes and best interests of the people on Taiwan," a U.S. State Department representative said in a statement.
"Resolving the Taiwan issue and realizing China's peaceful reunification is a historic mission and an unshakable commitment of the CCP," Xi said in the speech, while he also reiterated the "one China principle," which refers to the concept that there's only one China - the one under the Communist Party in Beijing.
In response, the U.S. State Department said: "We urge Beijing to cease its military, diplomatic, and economic pressure against Taiwan and instead engage in meaningful dialogue with Taiwan."
Meanwhile, in the U.S., Sen. Mitt Romney said the CCP had nothing to celebrate over the past 100 years except for a litany of human rights abuses, including a genocide in Xinjiang, the execution of dissidents, media censorship, reneged promises of freedom in Hong Kong and spying on its own citizens.
Sen. Marco Rubio said "100 years of authoritarian repression is cause for sorrow, not celebration." He included a video of human rights abuses allegedly committed by the CCP - including the imprisonment of more than 1 million Uyghurs in labor camps, systematic repression of religions, crackdowns on political dissent and violation of its assurances to Hong Kong.
Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the CCP had a "century of killing fields and genocide." No political party in history has "killed more people than the CCP."
Earlier, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo said the U.S. would continue business as usual - even after it was the subject of attacks in the Xi speech. "We'll do everything we can to make sure that our U.S. companies are treated fairly and are able to have access to the China market," she said on CNBC's "Closing Bell." "We will make sure that that is the case; that the Chinese play by the rules, protect IP and allow our markets, our companies to access that market."
Xi warned unnamed foreign countries seeking to "bully" China would be "battered and bloodied" after facing its "great wall of steel."
Raimondo dismissed the comments as tough talk, saying that the U.S. will "just play our game." "That's obviously, you know, a lot of bluster and rhetoric. I think U.S. companies need to focus on doing their business," she said.
In an editorial Friday the state-run Global Times said Xi's speech was a "beautiful vision of China's future development" and denounced "Western elites" for "bad-mouthing China: they are worried because they feel that China's development will continue to be unstoppable."
"Regardless of their attitude toward China, most U.S. and other Western elites tend to believe that China's gross domestic product will surpass that of the U.S. in a decade or less, and most of them also believe that the U.S. military and technological advantages over China will shrink further as time passes."
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