China Reiterates Threat to Invade Taiwan

China’s defense minister renewed threats that his country would take over self-ruled Taiwan as he opened a security forum in Beijing.

Taiwan maintains that it is a sovereign country whose future should be decided by its people. (Photo: law smith X) 

The “restoration” of Taiwan to China “is an integral part of the post-war international order,” Dong Jun told an audience of international military officials attending the Beijing Xiangshan Forum, an annual event, Simina Mistreanu reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Beijing considers Taiwan — a democracy of 23 million people that has been governed separately from China since 1949 — to be a breakaway province, and has not ruled out the use of force to bring it under its control.

China applies military pressure on Taiwan by sending warships and aircraft near the island almost daily.

Notably, China has never administered Taiwan, which was under Japanese rule from the early 1900s until Tokyo surrendered the island to the Kuomintang after losing World War II.

Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te and his ruling Democratic Progressive Party reject Beijing’s assertions, maintaining that Taiwan is a sovereign country whose future should be decided by its people.

Dong said China would “never allow any separatist attempts for Taiwan independence to succeed” and that it was ready to thwart “any external military interference.”

While Chinese dynastic rulers historically claimed Taiwan as Chinese territory, they never established control over the island — in part because indigenous groups, related to the Cordillera peoples of the Philippines, fiercely resisted incursions.