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BEIJING , Aug 10 (AP) \u2014 China on Wednesday reaffirmed its threat to use military force to bring self-governing Taiwan under its control, amid threatening Chinese military exercises that have raised tensions between the sides to their highest level in years.<\/p>\n
The lengthy policy statement issued by the Cabinet\u2019s Taiwan Affairs Office and its news department followed almost a week of missile firings and incursions into Taiwanese waters and airspace by Chinese warships and air force planes.<\/p>\n
The actions have disrupted flights and shipping in a region crucial to global supply chains, prompting strong condemnation from the U.S., Japan and others.<\/p>\n
An English-language version of the Chinese statement said Beijing would \u201cwork with the greatest sincerity and exert our utmost efforts to achieve peaceful reunification.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut we will not renounce the use of force, and we reserve the option of taking all necessary measures. This is to guard against external interference and all separatist activities,\u201d the statement said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will always be ready to respond with the use of force or other necessary means to interference by external forces or radical action by separatist elements. Our ultimate goal is to ensure the prospects of China\u2019s peaceful reunification and advance this process,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
China says the threatening moves were prompted by a visit to Taiwan last week by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, but Taiwan says such visits are routine and that China used that merely as a pretext to up its threats.<\/p>\n
In an additional response to Pelosi\u2019s visit, China said it was cutting off dialogue on issues from maritime security to climate change with the U.S., Taiwan\u2019s chief military and political backer.<\/p>\n
Taiwan\u2019s foreign minister warned Tuesday that the Chinese military drills reflect ambitions to control large swaths of the western Pacific, while Taipei conducted its own exercises to underscore its readiness to defend itself.<\/p>\n
Beijing\u2019s strategy would include controlling the East and South China seas via the Taiwan Strait and imposing a blockade to prevent the U.S. and its allies from aiding Taiwan in the event of an attack, Joseph Wu told a news conference in Taipei.<\/p>\n
Beijing extended the ongoing exercises without announcing when they would end, although they appear to have run their course for the time being.<\/p>\n
China\u2019s Defense Ministry and its Eastern Theater Command both issued statements saying the exercises had achieved their targets of sending a warning to those favoring Taiwan\u2019s formal independence and their foreign backers.<\/p>\n
Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen and her Democratic Progressive Party administration are \u201cpushing Taiwan into the abyss of disaster and sooner or later will be nailed to the pillar of historical shame!\u201d Defense Ministry spokesperson Col. Tan Kefei was quoted as saying in a statement posted to the ministry\u2019s website.<\/p>\n
Troops taking part in the exercises had \u201ceffectively tested integrated joint combat capabilities,\u201d the Eastern Theater Command said on its Twitter-like Weixin microblog.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe theater troops will monitor changes in the situation in the Taiwan Strait, continue to conduct military training and preparations, organize regular combat readiness patrols in the Taiwan Strait, and resolutely defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity,\u201d spokesperson Col. Shi Yi was quoted as saying.<\/p>\n
Taiwan split with the mainland amid civil war in 1949 and the island\u2019s 23 million people overwhelmingly oppose political unification with China, while preferring to maintain close economic links and the status quo of de-facto independence.<\/p>\n
Through its maneuvers, China has pushed closer to Taiwan\u2019s borders and may be seeking to establish a new normal in which it could eventually control access to the island\u2019s ports and airspace.<\/p>\n
Along with lobbing missiles into the Taiwan Strait, the nearly week-long drills saw Chinese ships and planes crossing the center line in the strait that has long been seen as a buffer against outright conflict.<\/p>\n
The U.S., Taipei\u2019s main backer, has also shown itself to be willing to face down China\u2019s threats. Washington has no formal diplomatic ties with Taiwan in deference to Beijing, but is legally bound to ensure the island can defend itself and to treat all threats against it as matters of grave concern.<\/p>\n
That leaves open the question of whether Washington would dispatch forces if China attacked Taiwan. U.S. President Joe Biden has said repeatedly the U.S. is bound to do so \u2014 but staff members have quickly walked back those comments.<\/p>\n
Beyond the geopolitical risks, an extended crisis in the Taiwan Strait \u2014 a significant thoroughfare for global trade \u2014 could have major implications for international supply chains at a time when the world is already facing disruptions and uncertainty in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n
In particular, Taiwan is a crucial provider of computer chips for the global economy, including China\u2019s high-tech sectors.<\/p>\n
In response to the drills, Taiwan has put its forces on alert, but has so far refrained from taking active countermeasures.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, its military held live-fire artillery drills in Pingtung County on its southeastern coast.<\/p>\n
Australia\u2019s recent change of government was a chance to \u201creset\u201d its troubled relationship with China, but the new administration must \u201chandle the Taiwan question with caution,\u201d a Chinese envoy said Wednesday.<\/p>\n
China has brushed aside foreign criticism of its actions, and its ambassador to Australia said Wednesday he was \u201csurprised\u201d that Australia had signed a statement with the United States and Japan that condemned China\u2019s firing of missiles into Japanese waters in response to Pelosi\u2019s visit.<\/p>\n
Xiao Qian told the National Press Club China wanted to resolve the situation peacefully, but \u201cwe can never rule out the option to use other means.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo when necessary, when compelled, we are ready to use all necessary means,\u201d Xiao said. \u201cAs to what does it mean by \u2018all necessary means?\u2019 You can use your imagination.\u201d<\/p>\n
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