America underlined its military commitment to Taiwan yesterday, hours after the Chinese government warned that any declaration of independence by the self-governed island would trigger a war.
John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said that the comment from
China was “unfortunate and certainly not commensurate with our intentions to meet our obligations under the Taiwan Relations Act”.
He said that the
United States would look for ways to co-operate with China but added: “We have obligations that we intend to meet. The United States military remains ready in all respects to meet our security commitments in the region.”
It shows that Taiwan remains a thorny issue in the US-China relationship, which rapidly deteriorated during the Trump presidency and has shown no sign of easing since
President Biden took office.
Washington has a security pact with Taiwan to equip it with sufficient military hardware to fend off any invasion by Beijing and the US commitment remains the biggest obstacle for China to seize the island.
The Chinese government has long considered Taiwan part of its territory, and
President Xi has called for reunification with the island by 2050. He has proposed that the island be brought back under a “one country, two systems” framework but Beijing has insisted that the use of force remains an option.
“We are seriously telling those Taiwan independence forces: those who play with fire will burn themselves, and Taiwan independence means war,” said Wu Qian, a spokesman for the Chinese defence ministry, yesterday. “The Chinese People’s Liberation Army will take all necessary measures to resolutely thwart any form of Taiwan independence separatist attempts and firmly defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Only three days after President Biden was inaugurated, Beijing intensified military exercises near Taiwan, sending 28 fighter jets over the island in one weekend.
Chinese military planes also conducted an exercise using the group of US navy vessels led by the carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt as a simulated target.
Pilots of China’s H-6 bombers could be heard in cockpit conversations confirming orders for the simulated targeting and release of anti-ship missiles against the carrier, according to intelligence sources.
When the US aircraft carrier entered the disputed South China Sea,
Beijing announced that it would conduct another exercise there.