China warns it will not tolerate Taiwan ‘separatists’

It came after days of unprecedented Chinese military drills around the island sparked by US speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip.

Taiwanese gunners hold a live-fire drill on Wednesday. Picture: Getty Images

China vowed zero tolerance for “separatist activities” in Taiwan and reaffirmed it would take the liberal democracy by force if necessary, in its first white paper on the island in two decades.

The warning from Beijing, which considers Taiwan its territory, came after days of unprecedented Chinese military drills around the island sparked by US House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip.

Ms Pelosi last week became the highest-ranking US official to visit Taiwan since 1997 despite stark threats from China, which tries to keep Taipei isolated on the world stage.

China’s Taiwan Affairs Office on Wednesday issued the white paper laying out how it intended to claim the island through a range of economic incentives and military pressure: “We are ready to create vast space for peaceful reunification, but we will leave no room for separatist activities in any form,” said the white paper. China would “not renounce the use of force, and we reserve the option of taking all necessary measures.”

It added, however: “We will only be forced to take drastic measures to respond to the provocation of separatist elements or external forces should they ever cross our red lines.”

China last issued a white paper on Taiwan in 2000.

Since the late 1990s, the island has transformed from an autocracy into a vibrant democracy, and a distinct Taiwanese identity has emerged.

Relations between the two sides have significantly worsened since 2016 when Tsai Ing-wen became president; his Democratic Progressive Party does not consider Taiwan to be part of China.

The Chinese white paper promised Taiwan economic prosperity as well as “greater security and dignity” after “reunification”. That offer comes in the shadow of the biggest military exercises China has conducted around the island, including training for a blockade.

The drills have raised fears that China’s Communist Party leadership could be preparing for an invasion.

The exercises were initially expected to conclude on Sunday, but have continued this week with no confirmation of when they will end.

China’s People’s Liberation Army on Wednesday released details of the exercises it conducted a day earlier around Taiwan.

The PLA’s Eastern Theatre command said the Tuesday drills focused on establishing air dominance, releasing video and ­photos of jet fighters taking off and conducting manoeuvres – including in-flight refuelling from a tanker.

Taiwan has accused China of using the Pelosi visit as an excuse to rehearse for an invasion. It has conducted its own military drills to prepare for an attack on the ­island, and on Wednesday released footage of its air, land and sea forces responding to the Chinese exercises.

“China has used the drills in its military playbook to prepare for the invasion of Taiwan,” Taiwanese Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said in Taipei on Tuesday.

“China’s real intention is to alter the status quo in the Taiwan Strait and entire region.”

The Taiwanese drills prompted another Chinese warning on Tuesday. Any conspiracy to “resist reunification through arms”, said foreign ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin, “will end in failure like a mantis trying to stop a chariot”.

Taiwan’s military said it detected 45 Chinese planes and 10 ships operating in the Taiwan Strait on Tuesday, with 16 planes crossing the median line – an unofficial demarcation between China and Taiwan that Beijing does not recognise.

Lasting just under an hour, Taiwan’s drill in the southern county of Pingtung included the firing of target flares and artillery, said Lou Woei-jye, spokesman for Taiwan’s Eighth Army Corps. Soldiers fired from howitzers tucked into the coast, hidden from view of the road that leads to popular beach destination Kenting. The drills, which were also to take place on Thursday, included the deployment of hundreds of troops and about 40 howitzers, the army said.

AFP