BEIJING: China on Monday warned the US should not underestimate its “strong ability” to safeguard the country’s territory after President Joe Biden said in Tokyo that Washington could “militarily” defend Taiwan, a self-ruled democracy, which Beijing says is a breakaway region and has not ruled out using force to reunify it.
No one should underestimate China’s “firm resolve, staunch will and strong ability” to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity, Chinese foreign ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said on Monday.
Biden was asked directly if the US would defend Taiwan militarily if China invaded at a press conference in Tokyo earlier in the day. “Yes… that’s the commitment we made,” Biden said, referring to an agreement between Washington and Taipei.
“They (China) are already flirting with danger right now by flying so close and all the manoeuvres that they are undertaking,” Biden said, referring to the increasing instances of Chinese fighter jets flying into Taiwan’s self-declared air defence zone across the Taiwan Strait.
Biden’s east Asia tour, Tuesday’s Quadrilateral Security Dialogue or Quad summit and the US’s Indo-Pacific strategy have already come under sharp criticism from China, which has said the bloc is inciting confrontation in the region.
Biden’s Taiwan statement led to more censure from China.
“On issues that bear on China’s sovereignty, territorial integrity and other core interests, no one shall expect China to make any compromise or trade-offs,” Wang was quoted as saying by China’s national broadcaster, warning the US not to stand on the opposite side of the 1.4 billion Chinese people.
Wang said the US should follow the one-China principle and stipulations in the three China-US joint communiques, and honour its commitment to not support “Taiwan independence”.
Chinese state councillor and foreign minister, Wang Yi, addressing a multilateral over video link, separately launched another salvo of criticism against the US.
Wang urged Asia-Pacific countries to reject any attempt to introduce military bloc or camp confrontation into the region, in a reference to Quad, which he has equated with the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) in the past.
Wang made the remarks while delivering a virtual speech at the opening ceremony of the 78th session of the Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). “…we should unswervingly safeguard peace and stability, firmly uphold the purposes and principles of the UN Charter and unequivocally reject any attempt to introduce military blocs and bloc confrontation into the Asia-Pacific region,” Wang said.
“The peace and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region is not only about the fate of the region, but also about the future of the world,” he said.
