U.S. authorities say the gunman behind an attack on a church in southern California in which one person was killed and five injured was motivated by a hatred for Taiwan
Jason Aguilar, left, a senior pastor at Arise Church, comforts Billy Chang, a 67-year-old Taiwanese pastor who survived Sunday's shooting at Geneva Presbyterian Church, during a prayer vigil in Irvine, Calif., Monday, May 16, 2022. Authorities say a Chinese-born gunman was motivated by hatred against Taiwan when he chained shut the doors of the church and hid firebombs before opening fire on a gathering of mainly of elderly Taiwanese parishioners.
While they have established strong economic ties, efforts at political reconciliation have stumbled in recent years as Taiwan asserts its own identity and China ups its demands that the island accept its terms for unification between the sides.Native Taiwanese and mainland migrants were divided initially by language, culture and politics, with the mainlanders continuing to identify closely with China and holding to Chiang's dream of eventually returning home as victors.
China says Taiwan is a part of its territory with no right to independent recognition as a state or representation on the world stage. Since Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen took office in 2016, Beijing has refused all contacts with her government. China allows no independent polling on the question, but public sentiment tends to run strongly in favor of its arguments on the need for, and inevitability of, unification between the sides. That is solidly in line with the Communist Party's relentless propaganda on the issue and the strongly nationalist tone it has adopted since jettisoning orthodox Marxism.
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