Beijing will not reject the possibility of using force over Taiwan if it “dares to take risks” and declare independence. However, this would be directed at outside interference and a small minority of “separatists,” China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said on Wednesday.
The remark came shortly after China wrapped up large-scale military exercises around the island, and following a speech by Taiwanese President Lai Ching-te last week, in which he reiterated the island government’s stance to push for independence from Beijing.
China’s stated goal is peaceful reunification, but the country’s authorities have repeatedly said they would use force if Taiwan attempts to declare independence.
“We are willing to strive for the prospect of peaceful reunification with the utmost sincerity,” Chen Binhua, the spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said at a regular press briefing, as quoted by Reuters. “But we will never commit ourselves to renouncing the use of force,” he added.
Chen clarified, however, that this would be aimed at the interference of “external forces,” referring to the US, Taiwan’s main backer and arms supplier, and the small number of separatists – not the vast majority of people on the island.
He went on to say that regardless of how many troops Taipei has, how many weapons it acquires, and “no matter whether external forces intervene” if Taiwan “dares to take risks,” it will “lead to its own destruction.”
Chen hit out at Lai, calling his remarks about “outright” Taiwan independence “separatist claims,” and warned that Beijing’s actions to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity “will not cease for a moment.”
Earlier this week China held joint army, navy, air force, and rocket force exercises near the island, which according to the Chinese military, were meant to serve as a “stern deterrence to the separatist acts of Taiwan independence forces.”
The drills prompted Taipei to conduct a national security meeting, urging Beijing to “respect the Taiwanese people’s choice of a democratic and free way of life.”
Beijing has repeatedly stressed that it considers the self-governing island of Taiwan to be an inalienable part of China under the One-China principle. It says that there is only one national state for the Chinese people. Beijing interprets the policy as supporting its claim of sovereignty over the self-governed island. Taiwan was the last refuge of nationalist forces in the 1940s Chinese Civil War, and has remained a key US ally in the region in the decades since.