Beijing mouthpiece threatens war with Taiwan after senior US official’s visit
Chinese state-run newspaper Global Times threatened to start a war with Taiwan and “wipe out” Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen in a tweet on Saturday, after she had pledged deeper ties with the United States during a top U.S. official’s visit to the island.
The outspoken newspaper said that Tsai was “clearly playing with fire” after she met with Keith Krach, the U.S. under secretary for economic growth, energy and the environment, who was on a three-day visit to the self-ruled island.
“If any act of her provacation (sic) violates the Anti-Secession Law of China, a war will be set off and Tsai will be wiped out,” the tweet said.
Krach, who left Taiwan on Saturday afternoon, was the highest-ranking U.S. State Department official to visit Taiwan since formal diplomatic ties between Washington and Taipei were severed in 1979.
Tsai said she hoped to continue to work together with the U.S. to “advance an even friendlier, even closer Taiwan-U.S. partnership.”
Krach’s visit has angered China, who considers Taiwan as a renegade province, and has threatened to use military force on multiple occasions to bring Taiwan under its rule.
In a show of force, Beijing sent more than a dozen Chinese military jets into Taiwan’s airspace on Saturday for the second day in a row.
Global Times editor Hu Xijin said on China’s microblogging site Weibo that the Chinese society has “lost patience” with Taiwan and the “Taiwan independent forces need to be taught a lesson.”
“If the other side dares to fire the first shot to attack our military fighters, then the People’s Liberation Army can launch a devastating attack on Taiwan’s military forces and push the resolution of the Taiwan issue to a new stage,” Xu wrote.
Veteran China watcher Johnny Lau said China’s threat was just a bluff and a war would not be beneficial to Chinese President Xi Jinping at this time. But he said that Xi could use war to boost his reputation at the end of 2021 to early 2022, when he seeks re-election at the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China.
Lau said China did not currently possess the strength to take Taiwan by force, as the country continues to be plagued by the COVID-19 pandemic and officials struggle to steer the country through an economic downturn. Any conflicts or losses could cause internal friction and trigger anti-war sentiment, which would create a re-election crisis for Xi, he said.
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