The tide of history cannot be stopped, Chinese President Xi Jinping said on Thursday, ​while urging peaceful “reunification” with Taiwan and making no mention of using force, though he still drew a firm rebuff from Taipei.

China views democratically-governed ‌Taiwan as its own territory, despite Taipei’s strong rejection of that claim, and has repeatedly offered a “one country, two systems” model of autonomy not supported by any major Taiwanese political party.

Resolving the Taiwan question is an “unwavering historical mission” of China’s Communist Party, Xi said in a speech in Beijing’s Great Hall of the People.

“The tide of history cannot be stopped,” Xi added. “The complete reunification of ​the motherland must be realised, and it will certainly be realised.”

Taiwan’s government dismissed the remarks.

Its Mainland Affairs Council said neither the government nor Taiwan’s people ​could accept “one country, two systems,” which would ultimately mean submitting to the Communist Party’s authoritarian rule.

“As for the wording on Taiwan ⁠unification, it isn’t much different from the past,” council spokesperson Liang Wen-chieh told reporters.

Xi’s comments came in a speech on the 160th birthday of revolutionary hero Sun ​Yat-sen, who helped lead a 1911 revolt that ended centuries of rule by emperors and empresses and ushered in the Republic of China.

Xi said China adheres to “peaceful reunification ​and the policy of ‘one country, two systems’” and is willing to talk to Taiwan while upholding the “one-China principle”, or Beijing’s position that both sides of the Taiwan Strait are one country.

All Chinese, including those in Taiwan, should join hands to jointly oppose Taiwan independence “separatist” forces and strive for peaceful development of cross-Strait ties, Xi added.

Despite Xi not mentioning the use of force, which China ​has never renounced for Taiwan, its military operates around the island on a daily basis and is extending its reach further into the Pacific.

Taiwan’s defence ministry said it ​had detected 29 Chinese military aircraft, including J-16 fighter jets and drones, carrying out a “joint combat readiness patrol” around Taiwan in conjunction with Chinese warships, starting on Thursday.

Taiwan tells people to stay away

Xi’s ⁠speech comes a week ahead of the APEC summit in China’s southern tech hub of Shenzhen, where he is due to again meet US President Donald Trump, and also a little more than two weeks before important local elections in Taiwan.

Last month, Taiwan called on its people to steer clear of any of China’s events to mark the Sun anniversary, saying China had a distorted view of him and his legacy.

Beijing calls Sun a great national hero and patriot, as well as the forerunner of the 1949 communist ​revolution that forced the defeated Republic of ​China government to flee to Taiwan, ⁠where it remains to this day.

Xi said Sun was a great national hero, a great patriot and a “great pioneer of China’s democratic revolution”.

“Mr Sun Yat-sen consistently upheld the unity of the country and the solidarity of the nation, and he firmly opposed ​all words and actions that split the country or the nation,” he added.

‘Father of the nation’

In Taiwan, Sun is officially ​considered the “father of the ⁠nation” and his portrait hangs in the presidential office, though his political philosophy, “Three Principles of the People”, is no longer a required text for schoolchildren.

While Taiwan President Lai Ching-te and his ruling Democratic Progressive Party champion Taiwan’s separate identity from China, they have been striking a tougher tone with Beijing on the role of the Republic of China.

Taiwan has ⁠been particularly upset ​by Beijing’s effort to claim credit for the victory in World War Two, saying it was the ​Republic of China government that fought alongside the allies, as the People’s Republic of China did not exist at the time.

China says Lai is a “separatist” and has refused to speak with him. Lai says only ​Taiwan’s people can decide their future.