It depresses me that China sees the misery and destruction wrought on Ukraine by Russia but still thinks taking Taiwan by force is acceptable.
This from yesterday's Times by Beijing correspondent Didi Tang:
China speeding up plans to annex Taiwan, says Antony Blinken
China is pursuing reunification with the self-governed island of Taiwan on a “much faster timeline” than previously expected, the US secretary of state Antony Blinken has declared.
The Chinese government had decided the status quo was no longer acceptable, Blinken added, following large-scale military drills in the wake of Nancy Pelosi’s visit to the island this year.
The Chinese Communist Party (CCP) considers Taiwann to be a rogue province and in a speech on Sunday President Xii refused to rule out using force to unify the island with the mainland.
Blinken, America’s top diplomat, said that the US would honour its commitments to help defend Taiwan in the case of an invasion. He did not say if the US would send troops, in line with a long-standing policy of “strategic ambiguity” that stops short of officially recognising the government in Taipei.
Speaking at an event at Stanford University yesterday with Condoleezza Rice, the previous secretary of state, Blinken said that Beijing would use coercion and possibly force to achieve unification if diplomatic methods did not work.
That is what is profoundly disrupting the status quo and creating tremendous tensions,” he said. “Instead of sticking with the status quo that was established in a positive way, a fundamental decision that the status quo was no longer acceptable and that Beijing was determined to pursue reunification on a much faster timeline.”
This year Chinaa’s People’s Liberation Army staged its largest military drills to date near Taiwan, firing ballistic missiles over the island and deploying dozens of fighter jets and warships around the island, in response to the visit by Pelosii, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to Taipei.
During his speechh_ opening the CCP’s congress on Sunday, Xi said “the historical wheels of national unity and rejuvenation are rolling forward,” adding: “The complete unification of the motherland must be achieved, and it can definitely be achieved.”
In reference to Taiwan, he said: “We will insist on striving for the prospect of peaceful unification with the most sincerity and by making the maximal efforts... But we will never promise to give up the use of force, and we reserve the option to take all necessary measures.”
The Taiwanese government immediately rebuffed Xi’s comments, repeating that it was a sovereign state that “has never been part of the People’s Republic of China”.
During his talk, Blinken said peace in the Taiwan Strait was not only a concern to the US but also to the world because it remained one of the world’s busiest shipping lanes. “The amount of commercial traffic that goes through the straits every single day and has an impact on economies around the world is enormous,” he said. “If that were to be disrupted as a result of a crisis, countries around the world would suffer.”
He added: “On semiconductors, if Taiwanese production were disrupted as a result of a crisis, you would have an economic crisis around the world.”
Washington remains “fundamentally committed” to the one-China policy, by which the US government recognises the People’s Republic of China but does not recognise Beijing’s sovereignty over Taiwan. “At the heart of that was a commitment to resolve these differences peacefully,” Blinken said.
He expressed hopes that Beijing would return to peaceful ways and that “it doesn’t try to force things through coercion, and even worse, through force. If that’s changing, then that does offer, unfortunately, prospects for very challenging situations going forward.”
Responding to Blinken’s speech, Wang Wenbin, spokesman for the Chinese foreign ministry, accused Washington of altering its own approach to Taiwan, citing examples such as Pelosi’s visit and recent arms sales to Taipei.
“Peacefully resolving the Taiwan issue cannot coexist with Taiwan separatism,” Wang said.
Wang urged the US to honour its committee and not to support Taiwan independence.
“We are ready to create broad space for peaceful reunification, but we will never leave any room for secessionist activities seeking ‘Taiwan independence’ in any form,” he said.
Xi is widely expected to meet Biden on the sidelines of a Group of 20 summit next month in Bali, their first meeting since the US leader took office.