Taiwan is pursuing independence incrementally and those who support it will \u201cend up in self-destruction,\u201d China\u2019s new defense minister warned Sunday in a wide-ranging speech at a security summit in Singapore where the extent of regional tensions was on stark display. <\/p>\n
Minister of National Defense Adm. Dong Jun made the comments in a roughly 30-minute speech which comes days after Beijing staged major military exercises encircling the island of Taiwan after it inaugurated its new, democratically elected president last month. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe will take resolute actions to curb Taiwan independence and make sure such a plot never succeeds,\u201d Dong said speaking through a translator, while slamming \u201cexternal interfering forces\u201d for selling arms and having \u201cillegal official contacts\u201d with Taiwan, in an apparent reference to the United States, which maintains close, unofficial ties with Taiwan. <\/p>\n
\u201cChina stays committed to peaceful reunification. However, this prospect is increasingly being eroded by separatists for Taiwan independence and foreign forces,\u201d Dong warned. <\/p>\n
His comments come as there has been heightened concern in the region over Beijing\u2019s military and economic intimidation of Taiwan, which has grown more pronounced under Chinese leader Xi Jinping. <\/p>\n
In a meeting with Dong on Friday, US defense chief Lloyd Austin called on China not to \u201cuse Taiwan\u2019s political transition \u2014 part of a normal, routine democratic process \u2014 as a pretext for coercive measures.\u201d <\/p>\n
China\u2019s ruling Communist Party claims the self-governing democracy as its own, despite never having controlled it and has vowed to \u201creunify\u201d with it, by force if necessary. Taiwan\u2019s new President Lai Ching-te and his party, the Democratic Progressive Party (DPP), are both openly loathed by Beijing for championing Taiwan\u2019s sovereignty. <\/p>\n
Lai has said he favors the current status quo, proclaiming that \u201cTaiwan is already an independent sovereign country\u201d so there is \u201cno plan or need\u201d to declare independence. The US also by longstanding policy does not support Taiwan independence nor the unilateral change of the status quo across the Taiwan Strait. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe DPP authorities in Taiwan are pursuing separation in an incremental way. They are bent on erasing their Chinese identity of Taiwan and severing social, historical and cultural links across the Taiwan Strait,\u201d Dong said, reiterating Beijing\u2019s rhetoric that they would be \u201cnailed to the pillar of shame in history.\u201d <\/p>\n
Polls show growing numbers of the island\u2019s people \u2013 especially young people \u2013 view themselves as distinctly Taiwanese and have no desire to be part of China, an authoritarian one-party state compared to Taiwan\u2019s democracy. Less than 10% now support an immediate or eventual unification, and only 3% identify primarily as Chinese \u2013 while 67% see themselves as primarily Taiwanese. <\/p>\n
Taiwan called Dong\u2019s comments in Singapore \u201cprovocative and irrational.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cAny\u2026 coercive actions that disregard public opinion run contrary to democracy and human rights, or any resort to war will eventually be counterproductive,\u201d Taiwan\u2019s Mainland Affairs Council said in a statement. <\/p>\n
Dong, a former naval commander, is making his debut at the Shangri-la Dialogue security summit after being appointed to his position late last year following a surprise shake-up at the top of China\u2019s Defense Ministry. <\/p>\n
The gathering plays out amid a contentious security landscape across the region, where China is widely seen by its neighbors as using its military might to assert disputed territorial claims and bid for military prominence in a part of the world where the US has deep security ties. <\/p>\n
Chinese vessels and aircraft have been widely documented patrolling and making aggressive maneuvers against others operating in international waters and skies as it asserts disputed claims in the East and South China Seas. <\/p>\n
But Dong painted a different vision of China in his speech, framing it as a benign power whose military \u201cnever acts from the so-called position of strength,\u201d while taking oblique aim at the US saying, \u201cwe will not allow anyone to bring geopolitical conflicts or any war, whether hot or cold to our region.\u201d <\/p>\n
The Chinese defense chief also said there was a \u201climit to\u201d China\u2019s restraint when it comes to \u201cprovocations\u201d in the South China Sea, making an apparent reference to US treaty ally the Philippines, which Dong did not name directly. <\/p>\n
A \u201ccertain country\u201d was \u201cemboldened\u201d by outside powers and had \u201cmade mediated provocations,\u201d Dong said, while indirectly referencing the deployment of an American missile system during military drills in the Philippines in April. <\/p>\n
China has militarized islands in the disputed South China Sea, and in recent months its coast guard has fired water cannons and sought to counter Philippine vessels operating in disputed areas, further ratcheting tensions in the key strategic waterway. <\/p>\n
China claims historic rights to the bulk of the South China Sea, despite a 2016 ruling at an international tribunal in The Hague ruled in favor of the Philippines against that claim. <\/p>\n
Dong\u2019s comments come after Philippine President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr on Friday denounced illegal, coercive and aggressive actions in the South China Sea at the opening of the same defense forum in Singapore. He also warned that the death of any Filipino citizen at the hands of another country in the South China Sea would be \u201cvery close\u201d to an act of war. <\/p>\n
The Chinese defense chief also pushed back against concerns voiced by the US that dual-use exports from China are bolstering Russia\u2019s defense industrial base as it wages war in Ukraine. <\/p>\n
\u201cWe have never provided weapons to either party of the conflict. We have put stricter control on the export of dual-use items and have never done anything to fan the flames,\u201d Dong said. <\/p>\n
The issue was raised during a meeting between Dong and US counterpart Austin \u2013 the first face-to-face talks between US and Chinese defense since 2022, with Austin indicating to China that there would be consequences if Beijing continues to support Russia militarily. <\/p>\n
Dong said China \u201cstays open to exchanges and cooperation with the US military.\u201d <\/p>\n
The annual security forum in Singapore \u2013 which is hosted by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) \u2013 is a rare gathering of senior military officials from across the Asia-Pacific region, including those who are geopolitical rivals or view each other warily. <\/p>\n
It is also a rare opportunity to hear from, and pose questions to, senior Chinese military leaders. <\/p>\n
Many of the questions directed at Dong from delegates revolved around China\u2019s increased assertiveness throughout the region, particularly towards Taiwan and in the disputed South China Sea. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe strategic environment in Asia has actually got more tense and I think we saw that in the Chinese defense minister\u2019s speech today,\u201d Ward said. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe tone was far harder this year than it was last year,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n
Meanwhile a senior US official had the following assessment. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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