CHINA FM WARNS OF ‘DANGEROUS CONSEQUENCES’ OVER TAIWAN INTERFERENCE

China’s foreign minister Qin Gang on Friday warned of “dangerous” consequences if countries intervened in Taiwan, asserting both sides of the Taiwan Strait belong to the mainland and that Beijing has the right to uphold its sovereignty.

“Those who play with fire on Taiwan will eventually get themselves burned,” Qin said at the Lanting Forum in Shanghai where he spoke on a wide range of topics including modernisation and safeguarding the international order.

Qin’s warning on Taiwan comes in the backdrop of the ongoing Sino-US tension on the self-ruled island, and the recent remarks by South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol who told Reuters in an interview that the Taiwan issue is not “…simply an issue between China and Taiwan but, like the issue of North Korea, it is a global issue.”

Beijing claims the democratically-ruled island as a breakaway region to be merged with the mainland by force if necessary.

The Tsai Ing-wen government in Taiwan rejects Beijing’s claims, saying it is the Taiwanese people who will decide their future.

“Recently, there has been some absurd rhetoric accusing China of challenging the so-called rules-based international order, of unilaterally changing the status quo across the Taiwan Strait through force or coercion, and of disrupting peace and stability across the Strait,” Qin said at the forum in Shanghai.

“Such claims go against basic common sense on international relations and historical justice. The logic is absurd, and the consequences dangerous,” he added.