The Foreign Minister of the People’s Republic of China took aim at countries like the United States seeking to “upend the status quo” when it comes to the self-governing island of Taiwan and stated that both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to Beijing at the opening ceremony of the Lanting Forum, held under the theme of “Chinese Modernization and the World”, in Shanghai.
“Foreign Minister Qin Gang has rejected claims that China is ‘upending the status quo’ when it comes to Taiwan.
China's President Xi Jinping has consistently maintained that Taiwan is an internal affair, adding and that anyone seeking to cause a wedge ‘will be violating the fundamental interests of the Chinese nation’.
Speaking at a forum in Shanghai, Mr. Qin pushed back against the ‘absurd rhetoric’ which he described as ‘dangerous’.
He added ‘fair-minded people can see who is engaged in hegemonic bullying and high-minded practices’.
‘Recently there has been absurd rhetoric accusing China of upending the status quo, disrupting peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait’, he said.
‘The logic is absurd and the conclusion dangerous’.
The comments come after China ceased three days of military exercises around Taiwan which included the creation of a temporary ‘blockade’ of the island and simulated precision missile strikes.
The drills were Beijing's response to Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen's recent visit to the United States where she met with officials including Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy.
The United States recognises, without endorsing, Beijing's claim that Taiwan is part of China and it intentionally remains ambiguous on whether it would act militarily should an attack occur.
Qin Gang reiterated the Chinese Communist Party’s stance regarding the self-governing island of 23 million.
‘It is not the Chinese mainland, but the Taiwan independence separatist forces and a handful of countries attempting to disrupt the status quo’, he said.
‘Those who play with fire on Taiwan will eventually get themselves burned’.
After the closed-door meeting near Los Angeles earlier this month, President Tsai thanked Mr McCarthy and other representatives for their ‘unwavering support’.
‘I want to thank Speaker McCarthy for his warm hospitality and for his invitation to bipartisan congressional leaders who have taken time out of their busy schedules to join us today’, she told reporters.
‘Their presence and unwavering support reassure the people of Taiwan that we are not isolated and we are not alone’”. -Joseph Huitson, Sky News
Now that China’s People’s Liberation Army has transformed itself into a capable, modern military, and given that China holds the advantage of proximity over the U.S. in the scenario of a Taiwanese conflict, the change in the balance of military power in China’s favor significantly decreases the likelihood of any possible United States involvement in a future war in the Taiwan Straits.
However, the prospect of the United States using Taiwan as a proxy against the Chinese to exhaust them militarily as it has attempted with its proxy in Ukraine against Russia without success looks like a far more plausible outcome than the United States military and its allies effectively defending the island of Taiwan’s independence against the People’s Liberation Army does at this time.