{"id":217047,"date":"2019-06-02T01:39:02","date_gmt":"2019-06-02T05:39:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=217047"},"modified":"2019-06-02T01:39:02","modified_gmt":"2019-06-02T05:39:02","slug":"china-vows-military-action-if-taiwan-sea-claims-opposed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2019\/06\/02\/china-vows-military-action-if-taiwan-sea-claims-opposed\/","title":{"rendered":"China vows military action if Taiwan, sea claims opposed"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
FILE: Lieutenant General Wei Fenghe, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the People’s Liberation Army in Beijing (Photo<\/a>
By Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade website\/Wikimedia commons, CC BY 3.0 au<\/a>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

SINGAPORE \u2014 China’s defence minister warned Sunday that its military will \u201cresolutely take action\u201d to defend Beijing’s claims over self-ruled Taiwan and disputed South China Sea waters.<\/p>\n

Speaking at an annual security conference in Singapore, Gen. Wei Fenghe did not direct the threat at the U.S. but loaded his address with criticism of activities by Washington, including support for Taiwan and leading so-called \u201cfreedom of navigation\u201d operations in the strategic waterways that China virtually claims as its own.<\/p>\n

Wei said the People’s Liberation Army would not \u201cyield a single inch of the country’s sacred land.\u201d<\/p>\n

China’s ruling Communist Party maintains that Taiwan is part of China, and has used increasingly aggressive rhetoric toward the democratic island, which split from the mainland amid a civil\u00a0war\u00a070 years ago. It opposes Taiwan’s independence and formally says it seeks a \u201cpeaceful reunification\u201d while refusing to rule out the use of force if necessary to achieve that goal.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe PLA has no intention to cause anybody trouble but it is not afraid to face up to troubles. Should anybody risk crossing the bottom line, the PLA will resolutely take action and defeat all enemies,\u201d Wei said.<\/p>\n

Relations between Beijing and Taipei have deteriorated since Taiwan elected a pro-independence president, Tsai Ing-wen, in 2016. China has since increased diplomatic pressure, cut off its contacts with the island’s government and discouraged travel there by Chinese tourists.<\/p>\n

\u201cChina must be and will be reunified. We find no excuse not to do so. If anyone dares to split Taiwan from China, the Chinese military has no choice but to fight at all costs, at all costs, for national unity,\u201d Wei stressed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe will strive for the prospect of peaceful unification with utmost sincerity and greatest efforts, but we make no promise to renounce the use of force.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wei was addressing defence chiefs, officials and academics at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore.<\/p>\n

U.S. Acting Defence Secretary Patrick Shanahan, who spoke to the same gathering on Saturday, was not present at Wei’s speech. Shanahan called China’s efforts to steal technology from other nations and militarize man-made outposts in the South China Sea a \u201ctoolkit of coercion\u201d and urged it to stop activities the U.S. perceives as hostile.<\/p>\n

China is pitted against smaller Southeast Asian neighbours in multiple disputes over island reefs, corals and lagoons in the South China Sea, where it constructed seven outposts equipped with airstrips, radar and missile stations that Shanahan said Saturday could become \u201ctollbooths\u201d in one of the world’s busiest waterways.<\/p>\n

Beijing is currently firming up a pact with four rival claimants, containing norms and rules aimed at preventing a shooting\u00a0war\u00a0in the disputed waters.<\/p>\n

On Thursday, China’s Defence Ministry dismissed a report that Australian navy pilots were hit by lasers earlier in May while exercising in the waters claimed by China.<\/p>\n

Wei said China built \u201climited defence facilities\u201d but much of it was aimed at improving services and infrastructure for people living there.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is only when there are threats would there be defences. In face of heavily armed warships and military aircraft, how can we not deploy any defence facilities?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Most of the islands are uninhabited and have been used by fishermen from all sides to shelter during storms.<\/p>\n

Wei and Shanahan met on the sidelines of the conference Friday and agreed to improve communication and deepen exchanges and co-operation between their militaries.<\/p>\n

On Sunday, Wei said the countries recognize that a conflict or\u00a0war\u00a0between them would have wide-reaching effects.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt takes two to co-operate but only one to start a fight,\u201d he said. \u201cWe hope that the U.S. side will work with us towards the same goal, follow the principles of non-conflict, non-confrontation, mutual respect and win-win co-operation, and steer the China-US relations in the right direction.\u201d<\/p>\n

China last sent a high-ranking general to the conference in 2011. Its officials have been quick to downplay this as a mere coincidence, given the busy schedules of their higher-ups.<\/p>\n

But some observers see Wei’s presence this time as a pointed attempt by China to cement its relationships in the region amid a trade\u00a0war\u00a0with the U.S. and having its businesses targeted with sanctions.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SINGAPORE \u2014 China’s defence minister warned Sunday that its military will \u201cresolutely take action\u201d to defend Beijing’s claims over self-ruled …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":217048,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-217047","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-w","mauthors-annabelle-liang","mauthors-the-associated-press"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217047","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=217047"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217047\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":217049,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/217047\/revisions\/217049"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/217048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=217047"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=217047"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=217047"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}