China Envoy Warns Of War With U.S. Over Taiwan Independence

China's Ambassador to Washington Qin Gang has warned of "military conflict" if the United States continues to make moves which Beijing perceives as encouraging Taiwan's independence, Kyodo News reported.

Photo Insert: People’s Republic of China Appointed Ambassador to the United States Qin Gang, meets with Deputy Secretary of State Wendy R. Sherman at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C.

"If the Taiwanese authorities, emboldened by the US, keep going down the road for independence, it most likely (will) involve China and the US, the two big countries, in a military conflict," Qin told National Public Radio (NPR), referring to the self-ruled democratic island which China views as its own even it never spent a single second administering it.

"The Taiwan issue is the biggest tinderbox between China and the US," the ambassador said. The radio broadcaster said it was an "unusually" direct statement on the US and Taiwan, noting that China usually speaks in more general terms, such as saying the US is "playing with fire."

Asked about the prospects of Beijing attacking Taiwan, Qin, who assumed the ambassadorial post in July last year, said the people of mainland China and Taiwan are both Chinese, and "the last thing" to do would be to fight with "compatriots."

However, surveys over the past 50 years have shown the people of Taiwan overwhelmingly rejecting China, which they regard as a colonial power that will suppress them as they are doing in Hong Kong, Macau. Xinjiang and Tibet.

"We will do our utmost in the greatest sincerity to achieve a peaceful reunification...But...Taiwanese authority is working down the road towards independence, emboldened by the US."

Washington is committed to its "one China" policy, which recognizes Beijing as the "sole legal government of China," but allows unofficial ties with Taiwan and assistance for the island to maintain sufficient self-defense capability.

Beijing regards Taiwan as a renegade province awaiting reunification, by force if necessary, and has endeavored to bring the democratic territory into its fold. The administration of President Joe Biden has been urging Beijing to cease its military, diplomatic and economic pressure and coercion against Taiwan.

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