Putin's Ally Insists Taiwan Will 'Return' To China On Schedule

Igor Sechin, chief executive of Russian oil giant Rosneft and one of Vladimir Putin's closest allies, on Thursday, Oct. 27, 2022, heaped praise on China's leaders and said Taiwan would return to its "native harbor" on time, Nailia Bagirova and Olesya Astakhova reported for Reuters.

Photo Insert: Sechin said that decisions taken by the 20th Communist Party Congress, which cemented Xi Jinping position as the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong, would provide for a new level of development for the country.

Sechin said that decisions taken by the 20th Communist Party Congress, which cemented Xi Jinping position as the most powerful Chinese leader since Mao Zedong, would provide for a new level of development for the country.

The deepening "no limits" partnership between the rising superpower of China and the natural resources titan of Russia is one of the most intriguing geopolitical developments of recent years - and one the West is watching with anxiety.

"The position of (China's) leadership is highly respected, which calmly and openly, without false premises, sets out its positions, even on the most difficult issues, such as the problem of Taiwan, which in this regard can be assessed as somewhat exaggerated," Sechin told an economic forum in Baku, previously held in Italy's Verona.

He said US attempts to create its own complex microchip industry showed that "Taiwan's return to its native harbor" was "on schedule." Taiwan was never a part of the New China as declared by Sun Yat Sen.

The indigenous peoples of Taiwan are closer genetically, culturally and linguistically to the cultural groups in Northern Philippines, including the Agta. Fossils found in Taiwan and dated at 6,000 years were related to the dark-skinned, shorter Agta.

Taiwan's Foreign Ministry condemned the comments, saying only the island's people could decide their future.

"Neither our government, people nor the international community can accept absurd remarks that are in China's cortege or demean Taiwan's sovereign status," it said in a statement. China claims democratically-governed Taiwan as its own territory and has ramped up military and political pressure against the island over the past two years.

Taipei strongly rejects Beijing's sovereignty claims. China has never governed Taiwan despite imperial China’s 1888 decree that the island was its territory. In 1895, Chinese ceded Taiwan to Japan after being beaten black and blue by Japan in the first Japan-China War.

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