Chinese President Xi Jinping has warned Taiwan to work on unification of the country and get out of the existing “grim” situation.

The self-ruled democratic Taiwan is usually claimed as a part of its territory by China and the Asian country has, on several occasions, stressed that it will one day re-take the country.

Now, in a congratulatory message to Eric Chu, who has just been elected as the leader of the Kuomintang (KMT) party — which is China-friendly — China’s President XI Jinping said the Communist Party and KMT should work together.

WATCH |

“In the past our two parties insisted on ‘1992 consensus’ and opposing ‘Taiwan independence’ … to promote peaceful developments in cross- strait relations,” Xi said in the letter released by the KMT. 

He urged the two parties to come together for the ‘unification of the country’ and make sure the ‘grim’ situation is straightened out as soon as possible.

“At present the situation in the Taiwan Strait is complex and grim,” he said, urging the parties to jointly seek peace and “the unification of the country.” 

Chu has replied back by saying he hopes the two parties will “seek common ground and respect their differences” to ensure and promote peace and stability in the area.

Meanwhile, Beijing has been building military, diplomatic and economic pressure on Taiwan to admit and follow the idea of “One China”.