China Issues Dark Warning to the World
China's defense minister issued a series of stern warnings on Sunday, cautioning the world to allow China to operate without interference or face consequences.
Following the inauguration of Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te in May, China had escalated its aggressive rhetoric towards Taiwan.
On Sunday, during a speech at a conference in Singapore, Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun intensified these threats.
“The Chinese People’s Liberation Army has always been an indestructible and powerful force in defense of the unification of the motherland, and it will act resolutely and forcefully at all times to curb the independence of Taiwan and to ensure that it never succeeds in its attempts,” Dong declared, according to the Hong Kong Free Press.
“Whoever dares to split Taiwan from China will be crushed to pieces and suffer his own destruction,” he added.
China asserts that Taiwan, the refuge of China’s government in 1949 after being overthrown by Communist forces led by Mao Zedong, rightfully belongs to its territory.
“We will take resolute actions to curb Taiwan independence and make sure such a plot never succeeds,” Dong reiterated, as reported by CNN.
Dong also condemned “external interfering forces” that supply arms to Taiwan and maintain “illegal official contacts” with it, seemingly alluding to the United States, which supports Taiwan through unofficial contacts and arms sales.
“China stays committed to peaceful reunification. However, this prospect is increasingly being eroded by separatists for Taiwan independence and foreign forces,” Dong cautioned.
He accused Taiwan’s government of “pursuing separation in an incremental way,” intent on removing their Chinese identity and severing ties across the Taiwan Strait.
In response, Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council labeled the comments as “provocative and irrational.”
“Any… coercive actions that disregard public opinion run contrary to democracy and human rights, or any resort to war will eventually be counterproductive,” the council stated, according to CNN.
Dong also issued threats regarding the South China Sea, where China’s claims are contested by several nations, as reported by the Australian Broadcasting Corp.
“China has maintained sufficient restraint in the face of rights infringements and provocation, but there are limits to this,” Dong stated.
National security expert Professor Rory Medcalf described Dong’s address as the “most pointedly intimidating speech” from a Chinese leader in the past two decades.
“There were some very pointed remarks, threatening both Taiwan and the Philippines, and I think a lot of the audience went away with a sense that this was a new level of intimidation,” he observed, according to ABC, labeling the comments as “particularly violent.”
Medcalf explained, “Traditionally, China has said the red line for military action against Taiwan is independence, and observers have always assumed that means that a formal declaration of independence by Taiwan would be the red line. But what he’s now saying is that there is a kind of incremental salami slicing-approach towards independence by the new Taiwanese leadership.”