Taiwan issue at the core of China’s interests: Def min

BEIJING: Taiwan is the “core of China’s core interests” and an “insurmountable” redline, Chinese defence minister Wei Fenghe told US defence secretary Lloyd Austin on the margins of a Southeast Asian defence ministers meeting in Cambodia, on Tuesday .

On his part, Austin told Wei to “refrain from further destabilising actions toward Taiwan”.

“The resolution of Taiwan is a matter for Chinese people, no external force has the right to interfere,” Wei told Austin on the sidelines of the Association of Southeast Asia Nations (Asean) Defence Ministers Meeting-Plus in Siem Reap, Cambodia, on Tuesday.

It was the first time the two met since June before a visit by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan in August sparked fury in Beijing, which saw the visit as a serious interference in its internal affairs.

Wei, according to an official Chinese statement, said that the “Taiwan issue” is the core of China’s core interests and “the first insurmountable redline in Sino-US relations”.

“Taiwan is China’s Taiwan, and resolving the Taiwan issue is China’s own business, and no external force has the right to interfere,” Wei told Lloyd.

“The Chinese armed forces have the backbone, confidence, confidence and ability to resolutely safeguard the motherland’s reunification,” the Chinese minister said, referring to Beijing’s position that the island will be merged with the mainland in the future with the use of force, if necessary. While reiterating Washington’s commitment to the “one China policy”, Austin “reaffirmed the importance of peace and stability across the Strait”. Austin underscored his “opposition to unilateral changes to the status quo and called on the PRC to refrain from further destabilising actions toward Taiwan”. Lloyd also raised Washington’s concerns about the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) movements in the Indo-Pacific, a strategic maritime area where both countries are vying for influence along with regional players.

They discussed a range of issues, according to the US readout, including “Russia’s unprovoked war against Ukraine”.

The talks between Wei and Austin came after President Xi Jinping and his US counterpart, Joe Biden, met for over three hours at the G20 summit in Bali on November 14.