China warns war if Taiwan declares independence

Agencies | Beijing      

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com

China’s defence minister yesterday warned his US counterpart that Beijing will “not hesitate to start a war” if Taiwan declares independence.

The warning from Wei Fenghe came as he held his first face-toface meeting with US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore.

Wei warned Austin that “if anyone dares to split Taiwan from China, the Chinese army will definitely not hesitate to start a war no matter the cost”, defence ministry spokesman Wu Qian quoted the minister as saying during the meeting. 

The Chinese minister vowed that Beijing would “smash to smithereens any ‘Taiwan independence’ plot and resolutely uphold the unification of the motherland”, according to the Chinese defence ministry.

He “stressed that Taiwan is China’s Taiwan... Using Taiwan to contain China will never prevail”, the ministry said.  Austin “reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability across the (Taiwan) Strait, opposition to unilateral changes to the status quo, and called on (China) to refrain from further destabilising actions toward Taiwan”, according to the US Department of Defence.

US President Joe Biden, during a visit to Japan last month, appeared to break decades of US policy when, in response to a question, he said Washington would defend Taiwan militarily if it is attacked by China. 

The White House has since insisted its policy of “strategic ambiguity” over whether or not it would intervene has not changed.     With concerns mounting over China-Taiwan tensions, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida issued a stark warning at the summit: “Ukraine today may be East Asia tomorrow”.

The world must be “prepared for the emergence of an entity that tramples on the peace and security of other countries by force or threat without honouring the rules,” he said.  He did not mention China by name in his address, but repeatedly called for the “rules-based international order” to be upheld.

Austin is the latest senior US official to visit Asia as Washington seeks to shift its foreign policy focus back to the region from the Ukraine war. Austin will deliver a speech at the forum on Saturday, followed by Wei on Sunday.

The summit runs from June 10 to 12 and is taking place for the first time since 2019 after twice being postponed due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Austin arrived in Singapore late Thursday, and held a series of meetings with his counterparts on Friday.