China warns US would pay a “high price” if it treads the wrong path on Taiwan issue

Asia-Pacific, News, US May 25, 2022 , by IRIA No Comments

As a reaction to U.S. President Joe Biden’s recent remarks about Taiwan in Tokyo, Chinese Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Wang Wenbin stated that the U.S. would pay an ‘unbearable price’ if it continues to go down the wrong path on Taiwan issue.

While answering a question during the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s press briefing, Wang Wenbin stated that the “U.S. keeps playing a game of words around the ‘One China’ principle. But I would like to remind the American side that there is no power in the world, even within the U.S., that could save the forces advocating the ‘independence of Taiwan’ from defeat.”

Wang further added that the U.S. had already broken its promises regarding the Taiwan issue, and undermined the mutually agreed and acclaimed, One-China policy. “Should the U.S. continue going down the wrong path, this will not only create irreversible consequences for Chinese-American relations, this will also force the U.S. to pay an unbearably high price in the end,” he warned.

According to Wang Wenbin, China has full confidence and complete capabilities to curb any kind of separatist activities aimed to incite insurgency in Taiwan for independence. He also stated that China is ready to resolutely contain any external interference and to defend its state sovereignty and territorial integrity in Taiwan.

The United States has a policy of strategic ambiguity toward China and Taiwan. The U.S. acknowledges that Taiwan is part of China, but has never officially recognized Beijing’s claims on the self-governing island of 23 million. The U.S. provides Taiwan with defensive weapons but at the same time remains intentionally ambiguous on whether it would intervene militarily in the event of a Chinese attack. This strategy gives the U.S. administration room to maneuver its Taiwan policy in order to manage its relationship with China.

U.S. President Joe Biden concluded his debut tour of Asia on May 24, where he visited Japan and South Korea. Biden also participated in the Quad meeting with Australian, Japanese, and Indian leaders to discuss the matters related to Indo-Pacific security.

^{Leaders of Quadrilateral Security Dialogue (Quad) from left to right, Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, U.S. President Joe Biden, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, pose for a photo at the entrance hall of the Prime Minister’s Office of Japan in Tokyo, Japan, on May 24, 2022. (Image Credit: Sadayuki Goto/Kyodo News via AP)}

While addressing a press briefing in Tokyo on May 23, U.S. President Joe Biden compared a potential invasion of Taiwan by China to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Biden warned China by stating that “it will dislocate the entire region.” Biden said that China is “already flirting with danger right now by flying so close and all the maneuvers they’re undertaking.” Biden said that the United States would intervene militarily if China attempts to take Taiwan by force, a warning that appeared to deviate from the deliberate ambiguity traditionally held by Washington.

Several of Biden’s top administration officials were caught off-guard by the President’s recent remarks on the matter. The White House quickly downplayed the comments, by stating that Biden’s comment does not mean any change in U.S. policy.

Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin also said at a briefing on May 24 that China-Russia cooperation is not directed against any third party. Wang highlighted that “Sino-Russian relations have withstood the new tests of the fickle international environment and have always maintained the right direction of progress… China-Russia cooperation has significant internal driving force and independent value, it is not directed against any third party and is not influenced from outside.”