The Chinese military is ready to “forcibly” stop Taiwan’s independence, and “anyone who dares to separate Taiwan from China will be torn to pieces and suffer their own destruction.” Defense Minister Dong Jun, speaking at the Shangri-La Forum in Singapore, assured that “the Chinese People’s Liberation Army has always been an indestructible and powerful force in defense of the unification of the motherland, and will act at all times with resoluteness and forcefully to curb Taiwan’s independence and to ensure that its attempts never succeed.”
A week ago the military exercises
The Shangri-La Dialogue came a week after China held large-scale military exercises around Taiwan, simulating an air and naval blockade and takeover of the island, aiming to warn independence supporters, starting with President William Lai, defined as a “dangerous separatist”, who took office on May 20. Furthermore, Beijing claims sovereignty over almost the entire South China Sea where in the last year it has been grappling with the resistance of the Philippines, which intends to assert its rights, to the point of having clashes with Chinese ships. Dong, on this point, warned of the “limits” to Beijing’s moderation: “China has maintained sufficient moderation in the face of rights violations and provocations, but there are limits”.
The talks in Singapore
Dong’s opinions at the most important forum in Asia dedicated to security and defense came a few hours after the talks that the Chinese minister had in Singapore with his US counterpart, Lloyd Austin, the first direct and in-person talks in 18 months between the defense chiefs of the two countries. “We have always been open to exchanges and cooperation, but this requires both sides to meet halfway,” Dong added about the meeting with Austin. “We believe that more exchanges are needed precisely because there are differences between our two armies,” he noted. After the meeting, the Pentagon chief said that telephone conversations between American and Chinese military commanders will resume “in the coming months”, while Beijing praised the “stabilization” of security relations between the two countries.
