Taiwan factor in US-Sino ties could make 2019 a rough ride for the region

PRESIDENT Xi Jinping's speech last week on reunification with Taiwan ran with all the usual shibboleths: how it was inevitable; how the island can keep its democratic system; and why China had the right to use force to bring it about.

His speech marked 40 years since Beijing ended what had been regular artillery fire against Taiwan-controlled offshore islands close to the Chinese coast and offered to open up communications between the two sides following decades of hostility.

In reply, Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen told Beijing that China should embrace democracy and that all cross-strait negotiations needed to be on a government-to-government basis, indirectly saying that the island was already independent. The island's opposition also rejected the idea, saying there was no market for it in Taiwan.