Major General Jin Yinan mocks Australia as ’white supremacist’
A Chinese general has mocked Australia’s ability to stop the PLA taking over Taiwan, declaring Canberra’s military contingencies are motivated by ‘white supremacy’.
A Chinese general has mocked Australia’s ability to stop the People’s Liberation Army taking over Taiwan, declaring Canberra’s military contingencies are motivated by “white supremacy”.
In an interview with China’s official military media, Major-General Jin Yinan dismissed reports that Canberra had escalated its planning for military action in the Taiwan Strait.
“We don‘t need to take it seriously,” said General Jin, who is also professor at the PLA National Defence University, the top military university in China.
“(Australia) is not that strong, it’s not that powerful… If it insists on intervening, it will only cause greater damage to Australia itself,” he said.
The Morrison government has recently talked with unprecedented directness about a long-feared military conflict in the Taiwan Straits.
Over the weekend, Defence minister Peter Dutton warned a war could not be ruled out between China and Taiwan, which Beijing considers a wayward province.
And in an extraordinary ANZAC Day message to staff, Home Affairs secretary Michael Pezzullo said the “drums of war” were beating and Australia must be prepared “to send off, yet again, our warriors to fight”.
The comments by Mr Dutton and his former chief bureaucrat follow efforts by the Biden administration to shore up support among its allies as it attempts to increase the potential costs for Beijing of any conflict over Taiwan.
Last Friday, Chinese President Xi Jinping oversaw the launch of three new warships at a ceremony in the South China Sea.
Some interpreted the unusual display of China’s growing naval strength as a sign that Mr Xi is building a force capable of retaking Taiwan, a democratically run island with a population of 24 million.
China’s foreign ministry spokesman responded to Mr Dutton’s comments by saying Taipei had constantly made “provocations in pursuit of ‘independence’ in collusion with external forces”.
“China must and will be reunified. We are willing to do our best to strive for the prospect of peaceful reunification, but we will never leave any space for ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist activities in any form,” foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Monday in Beijing.
“It is hoped that the Australian side will fully recognise that the Taiwan question is highly sensitive, abide by the one-China principle, be prudent in its words and deeds, avoid sending any wrong signals to the ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces, and act in ways beneficial to peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and conducive to China-Australian relations,” he said.
America’s top diplomat in Canberra recently indicated that the Biden administration and Morrison government were co-ordinating over what to do about a conflict in Taiwan.
Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga and his advisers have also been in discussions with US President Joe Biden and his team about the flashpoint.
General Jin, a hawkish military adviser to the Chinese government, said Canberra’s commitment would be immaterial to Beijing’s plans.
He said if “Australia wants to rush to the front line of the conflict… then let it come, let it walk on the forefront of the conflict... then we can have a good fight”.
The Beijing-based PLA strategist — who said he had visited the Australian National University in Canberra in 2012 — argued that many people in Australia believed in “white supremacy”, which made them more likely to go to war.
“They always feel that Anglo-Saxon whites and Christian whites should be the leaders of the world,” General Jin said in the interview.
“So, on the surface, these people seem to love peace very much and want to stop a war. In fact, it can be seen from their hypocritical words that their goal is that the white-dominated world should not be disturbed.
“The white man is the master of the world, and the others are nothing more than belongings of the world. This group of people in Australia are entrenched white supremacists.”
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