CHINA VOWS ‘FIGHT TO THE END’ TO STOP TAIWAN INDEPENDENCE

SINGAPORE—China will “fight to the very end” to stop Taiwanese independence, the country’s defense minister vowed on Sunday, stoking already soaring tensions with the United States over the island.

The superpowers are locked in a growing war of words over the self-ruled, democratic island, which Beijing views as part of its territory awaiting reunification.

Frequent Chinese aerial incursions near Taiwan have raised the diplomatic temperature, and on Saturday, US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin accused Beijing of “destabilizing” military activity in a speech to the Shangri-La Dialogue security summit.

Defense Minister Wei Fenghe hit back in a fiery address at the same event, saying Beijing had “no choice” but to fight if attempts are made to separate Taiwan from China.

“We will fight at all cost, and we will fight to the very end,” he said.

“No one should ever underestimate the resolve and ability of the Chinese armed forces to safeguard its territorial integrity.”

“Those who pursue Taiwanese independence in an attempt to split China will definitely come to no good end,” he added.

Strategic ambiguity

Wei urged Washington to “stop smearing and containing China... stop interfering in China’s internal affairs and stop harming China’s interests.”

But he also struck a more conciliatory tone at points, calling for a “stable” China-US relationship, which he said was “vital for global peace.”

President Joe Biden, during a visit to Japan last month, appeared to break decades of US policy when, in response to a question, he said Washington would defend Taiwan militarily if it was attacked by China.

The White House has since insisted its policy of “strategic ambiguity” over whether or not it would intervene had not changed.

Claim rejected

The dispute is just the latest between Washington and Beijing, who have clashed over everything from the South China Sea to human rights in Hong Kong and Xinjiang.

China’s expansive claims to the sea, through which trillions of dollars in shipping trade passes annually, have stoked tensions with rival claimants, Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan and Vietnam.

China, whose historical claims were rejected in a landmark 2016 Hague ruling, has been accused of flying its planes and sailing its boats close to the coastlines of rival claimants, and of intercepting patrol planes in international airspace in a dangerous fashion.

Wei insisted on Sunday that China respects freedom of navigation in the seas, and took a veiled swipe at Washington.

“Some big power has long practiced navigation hegemony on the pretext of freedom of navigation,” he said. “It has flexed its muscles by sending warships and warplanes on a rampage in the South China Sea.”