Tensions mount for Taipei’s independence after Beijing’s “provocative and destabilizing” military activity near the island
Taiwan could become the new Ukraine. China’s latest statements are fanning the flames of growing tension in East Asia that is about to explode. Can it end in war? It is certainly a possibility for Beijing. Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe assured this Sunday that “we will fight at any cost and to the end”, even emphasizing that his country “will not hesitate to start a war” to prevent Taiwan’s independence.
Meanwhile, the United States has denounced a “provocative and destabilizing” military activity by China near Taipei. “We are seeing increasing coercion from Beijing. Aircraft flew in record numbers near the island in recent months at almost a daily rate,” Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin warned at the Shangri-la Dialogue, a security forum in Singapore.
These performances are just a drop in a very full glass. In recent months, tensions have already grown between Washington and Beijing over Taiwan, an island with a democratic government and breakaway from China since 1949, when the nationalists defeated by Mao Zedong’s communists were evacuated to Taipei. The Asian giant considers this area of 24 million inhabitants its province and insists on its goal of getting it back sooner or later, by force if necessary. The reunification, the defense secretary assured, “will become a reality.”
He also warned that any “foreign interference” to help Taiwan achieve its independence “is doomed to failure. Asking foreign aid will not work, and they should never think about it!” he bellowed. “No one should ever underestimate the determination and ability of the Chinese military to protect its territorial integrity,” Fenghe said.
Taiwan, for its part, called Beijing’s claims “absurd.” “We will not give in to the threats of violence used by the Chinese government,” he said in a statement. And support is not lacking. Among them, one of the greatest powers in the world. Since his arrival at the White House, US President Joe Biden has worked vigorously to protect Taipei. Indeed, last month Washington broke through decades of ambiguity by claiming it would defend the island militarily if China attacked it.
One of the leaders who has suffered the brutality of the war for more than three months, Volodímir Zelensky, decided to intervene in the face of growing Asian tensions. “If there is a diplomatic and preventive route in Taiwan, it must be used,” insisting that “wars don’t profit anyone.” Even Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida warned that “East Asia could become Ukraine.”
Source: La Verdad
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