Beijing has warned that so-called independence movements in Taiwan won’t lead to “anything good”
FILE PHOTO: A young woman carrying a sign saying ‘No China’ while taking part on a march in Taipei downtown. © Alberto Buzzola / LightRocket via Getty Images
Taiwan belongs to China and the issue is a strictly internal one, Beijing’s Defense Minister Wei Fenghe insisted on Tuesday in a video address to the Moscow international security conference.
He noted that separatist movements on the island promoting the so-called “independence of Taiwan” will “end badly” and that any attempts to assist them from abroad will “not lead to anything good.”
Wei reiterated Beijing’s condemnation of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s recent visit to Taipei, which the defense minister called a “complete farce” and a serious affront to the “political foundation of Sino-American relations.”
China has launched a series of unprecedented drills around Taiwan since Pelosi ignored warnings from Beijing and visited Taipei to meet with the island’s leadership earlier this month.
Read more
The latest exercises were held on Monday as the Chinese Navy and fighter jets were deployed to the Taiwan Strait to conduct a number of multi-service drills as a “stern deterrent to the United States” as yet another delegation of elected US officials traveled there on Sunday.
“We have confidence and courage to defeat all intruders and will safeguard territorial integrity with firm will and strong ability” proclaimed Wei during Tuesday’s conference as Beijing has insisted that visits to the island by US officials undermines Chinese sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Slamming Washington for using “cheap political tricks” to threaten the “peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait,” the Chinese military has pledged to “continue to train and prepare for war” and has warned it will “resolutely crush any form of ‘Taiwan independence’ separatism and foreign interference.”
China considers Taiwan an inalienable part of its territory. However, since 1949, it has been de facto independent after the losing side in the Chinese Civil War – the nationalists – fled to the island and established their own administration there. Taiwan is officially recognized by a little over a dozen nations. While the US is not among them, Taipei has long enjoyed close unofficial relations with Washington, and American lawmakers and officials regularly travel to the island. Yet, visits by more senior US figures are seen in Beijing as tacit endorsements of Taiwanese independence.
