BEIJING (AP) Jan,11– China renewed its threat to attack Taiwan on Wednesday and warned that foreign politicians who are talking to the autonomous island are “playing with fire.”
A spokesman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Bureau said the country would make new commitments in the new year to “uphold sovereignty and territorial integrity” and quell the “Taiwan independence conspiracy” against an autonomous democracy that seceded from mainland China in 1949.
“It is a deliberate provocation that anti-Chinese elements in a minority of foreign countries viciously support Taiwan’s independence,” Ma said at a biweekly press conference.
China considers Taiwan to be Chinese territory and should bring it under Chinese control by force if necessary. A series of visits to Taiwan in recent months by foreign politicians, including Americans at the time. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and many European Union politicians have urged both sides to show their military might.
This week, Taiwan’s military is conducting a drill ahead of this month’s Lunar New Year holiday aimed at reassurance to the public that it is capable of repelling the Chinese threat. “The most important thing is to maintain the security of our airspace and national security,” Air Force Commander Wu Bonyang told reporters at Hsinchu Air Base south of the capital Taipei.
The training coincided with visits by German and Lithuanian parliamentarians. The latter Baltic states have been a particular target of China’s wrath to expand ties with Taiwan.
“We urge relevant countries to stop sending false signals to the separatist forces for Taiwan independence and stop playing with fire on the Taiwan issue,” he said.
China has responded to foreign visits by holding large-scale military exercises, which some see as rehearsals for blockades and invasions. Beijing sends planes and warships to Taiwan almost every day, frequently passing through the 160-kilometer (100-mile) centerline of the Taiwan Strait that separates the two shores. In late December, China sent a record 71 of her aircraft and 7 of her ships to Taiwan. This is his biggest exercise of its kind in 2022.
China’s efforts to diplomatically isolate Taiwan have left Taiwan with only 14 official diplomatic partners.
