The speech – which came just weeks after US President Joe Biden said the United States would respond “militarily” if China invaded Taiwan – limited a weekend of confrontational exchanges between US and Chinese military leaders. Wei also called on US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, who had told the conference a day earlier that China had engaged in coercive, aggressive and dangerous actions that threatened to “undermine security, stability and prosperity in Indo-Pacific.” ». Austin had also spoken of building a US coalition in the region and joint military exercises with Japan, Australia, India and Indonesia, but Wei said this was a kind of “political power” that China rejected. “No country should impose its will on others or intimidate others under the guise of multilateralism,” Wei said. “We are following Secretary Austin’s remarks on the US strategy in the Indo-Pacific. “It’s a strategy to create conflict,” Wei said.
“Fight to the end”
But Wei – who met with Austin in a bilateral meeting on Friday afternoon – has voiced some of his harshest criticism of Washington’s stance on Taiwan, a democratically ruled island that Beijing considers home to even though it has not ruled. never. Austin had said on Friday that the United States would continue to support Taiwan with the means to defend itself, including arms sales that China considers a violation of its sovereignty. Under US policy, Washington supplies defense weapons to Taiwan, but has deliberately remained skeptical about whether to intervene militarily in the event of a Chinese attack – a policy the White House insists remains intact despite Biden’s recent comments. to deviate from ambiguity. Washington acknowledges China’s position that Taiwan is part of China, but has never formally acknowledged Beijing’s claim to self-governing island. Wei said there would be no compromise on Chinese sovereignty or the question of whether Taiwan would one day be “reunited” with the mainland – a clear goal of China’s ruling Communist Party, which calls for peaceful “reunification,” but has not ruled out the use of force. “China will definitely realize its reunification … It is a historical trend that no one, no power can stop,” Wei said. And the People’s Liberation Army was ready to shed blood to enforce that, if necessary, he said. “Let me clarify,” Wei said. “If anyone dares to secede Taiwan from China, we will not hesitate to fight. We will fight at all costs. And we will fight to the end.” The Chinese Defense Minister said that the path taken by the US in the region is one that his country would never go down. “The order of human civilization must be based on the rule of law. Otherwise, the law of the jungle will prevail,” Wei said. “China will never seek hegemony or engage in military expansion or arms race. We will not intimidate others, but we will not allow others to intimidate us,” he said. Wei heads China’s Ministry of National Defense, but is not the highest-ranking military official in the Chinese Communist Party’s Central Military Commission, which controls China’s armed forces under Chinese leader Xi Jinping.
Regional tensions
China has faced a barrage of criticism during the Shangri-La conference. Representatives of US allies such as Australia and Canada have criticized what they see as Beijing’s violation of international law, including the dangerous interception of their aircraft operating in the region. Without naming China, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida said on Friday that the security situation in Asia was prompting Tokyo to significantly increase its defense budget and consider acquiring a “weapons counterattack” that is not currently in the arsenal. of. Japanese and Australian forces, including US allies and allies, are operating in the South China Sea, almost all of which China claims as its sovereign territory. China has militarized several man-made islands on the 1.3 million-square-mile waterway. But Wei concluded that it was the United States that was shipping ships on the waterway. “Some great power has long exercised the hegemony of navigation under the guise of freedom of navigation,” Wei said. He said the United States and China were at a critical juncture in their relationship, but argued that the ball was in Washington’s court when it came to spreading tensions. Washington must stop “tightening” Beijing and “interfering in China’s internal affairs” to improve relations, Wei said. “It would be a historic and strategic mistake to insist on considering China as a threat and an adversary or even an enemy,” he said. “If Washington can treat Beijing with ‘mutual respect,’ there is room for both nations to prosper,” Wei said. But he had a stern warning if the United States chose otherwise. “If you want to work together, we have to promote mutual benefits and gain results. However, if you want confrontation, we will fight to the end.”
