BEIJING (AP) – China on Wednesday reaffirmed its threat to use military force to bring self-ruled Taiwan under its control, amid threats of Chinese military exercises that have raised tensions between the sides to new heights. highest in years.
The statement issued by the cabinet’s Taiwan Affairs Office and its news department followed nearly a week of missile launches and incursions into Taiwan’s waters and airspace by warships and aircraft the Chinese Air Force.
The actions have disrupted flights and shipping in a region crucial to global supply chains, prompting sharp condemnation from the US, Japan and others.
An English version of the Chinese statement said Beijing would “work with the utmost sincerity and make our utmost efforts to achieve peaceful reunification.”
“But we will not give up the use of force and we reserve the option of taking all the necessary measures. This is to guard against external interference and all separatist activities,” the statement said.
“We will always be prepared to respond with the use of force or other necessary means to the interference of external forces or the radical action of separatist elements. Our ultimate goal is to secure the prospects of China’s peaceful reunification and advance this process,” he said.
China says the threatening threats were prompted by a visit to Taiwan last week by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, but Taiwan says such visits are routine and that China used it only as a pretext to increase their threats.
In a further response to Pelosi’s visit, China said it was cutting dialogue on issues from maritime security to climate change with the US, Taiwan’s main military and political backer.
Taiwan’s foreign minister warned on Tuesday that Chinese military exercises reflect ambitions to control large swaths of the western Pacific, while Taipei held its own drills to underline its readiness to defend itself.
Beijing’s strategy would include controlling the East and South China Seas through the Taiwan Strait and imposing a blockade to prevent the US and its allies from aiding Taiwan in the event of an attack, Joseph Wu said in a press conference in Taipei.
Beijing has extended ongoing exercises without announcing when they will end.
Taiwan split from the mainland amid civil war in 1949, and the island’s 23 million people overwhelmingly oppose political unification with China, although they prefer to maintain close economic ties and the status quo of de facto independence.
Through its maneuvering, China has moved closer to Taiwan’s borders and may be seeking to establish a new normal in which it could eventually control access to the island’s ports and airspace.
The US, Taipei’s main backer, has also shown a willingness to deal with China’s threats. Washington does not have formal diplomatic relations with Taiwan in deference to Beijing, but is legally bound to ensure that the island can defend itself and to treat all threats against it as matters of grave concern.
That leaves open the question of whether Washington would send forces if China attacked Taiwan. U.S. President Joe Biden has repeatedly said the U.S. is bound to do so, but staff members have been quick to push back on those comments.
Beyond geopolitical risks, a protracted crisis in the Taiwan Strait, an important route for global trade, could have major implications for international supply chains at a time when the world is already facing disruption and uncertainty in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and the war. in Ukraine
In particular, Taiwan is a crucial supplier of computer chips to the global economy, including China’s high-tech sectors.
In response to the drills, Taiwan has put its forces on alert, but has so far refrained from taking active response measures.
On Tuesday, its military conducted live-fire artillery drills in Pingtung County on its southeast coast.
