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Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe warned today during a meeting in Singapore with his American counterpart, Lloyd Austin, that Taiwan is a part of China’s territory and that his country will “crush with determination” any attempt at independence of the island.
Wei made these statements, collected by the Chinese television network CCTV, during his meeting with Austin this Friday on the sidelines of the Shangri-La Dialogue, an annual security forum held in Singapore, where the first face-to-face meeting between the two was held, since the American took office in January 2021.
The meeting, which lasted 30 minutes longer than expected, according to the South China Morning Post (SCMP), takes place after President Joe Biden warned in May from Tokyo that an annexation “by force” of Taiwan by China would entail a US military intervention.
There are some declarations that differ from the ambiguity held so far by the US Administration regarding Taiwan, to which Austin referred again today in his meeting with Wei.
According to a statement released by the US Department of Defense, Austin reaffirmed Wei his country´s commitment to the “one China policy”, while urging Beijing to refrain from unilateral actions that would further destabilize the area.
Wei, on his part, upheld the one-China principle — the expression Beijing prefers to use — in front of Austin and assured that “it is impossible to succeed using Taiwan to control China.”
China claims sovereignty over the island and considers Taiwan a rebel province since the nationalists of the Kuomintang withdrew in 1949 after losing the civil war against the communists.
Austin will deliver a speech regarding the US position in the Indo-Pacific on Saturday that is also expected to include references to Taiwan, while Wei will appear at the forum on Sunday for the closure.
