An American bipartisan congressional delegation led by an influential US House of Representatives member and Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee Michael McCaul arrived in Taiwan on Friday, April 7th, for a three-day visit. In an interview with Fox News from there, McCaul said that the US has a war against China on the table if the latter shows aggressive postures on the breakaway island.
Referring to Chinaโs military drills in the Taiwan Strait, McCaul commented, โThese are intimidation tactics and sabre-rattling, in my judgment, only firm up our resolve against the Chinese Communist Party. It has no deterrent effect on usโ.
Although McCaul discussed with the islandโs politicians proposals like selling more weapons, placing an embargo against China and launching an attack on it, he claimed that the US isnโt looking at war right now.
โWe donโt want war. We want peace and deterrence and peace through strength that accomplishes thatโ, McCaul was quoted by Fox News. However, he spoke about deploying American troops in Taiwan, which can further escalate the situation.
Chinaโs State Councilโs Deputy Director of the Information Bureau of the Taiwan Affairs Office Zhu Feng Lian said that the โunification of the motherlandโ must be implemented! She said there is no room for secession activities.
โWe will never leave room for โTaiwan independenceโ separatist activities in any form, and will definitely take resolute measures to defeat any foreign interference or separatist attempts for โTaiwan independenceโ in any form, and safeguard our national sovereignty and territorial integrity,โ she said.
Zhu advised the US to abide by the โOne China Policyโ and the โChina-US Three Joint Declarationsโ and to remain careful on the issue.
She said the Democratic Progressive Party authorities have been continuously challenging the โOne China policyโ. Their behaviour would put the island at risk of war and cause suffering for the Chinese people living there.
Incidentally, when the Peopleโs Republic of China was founded by the communists after a 28-year-long revolutionary war in 1949, the US-backed ruler Chiang Kai-shek fled to Formosa Islands to establish โRepublic of Chinaโ, which was recognised by the West.
After the Peopleโs Republic of China became a member of the United Nations in 1971 and was globally recognised, the US followed the world and recognised Beijing. Since then, the separatist island has started identifying itself as Taiwan. However, due to Chinaโs โOne China Policyโ, most countries of the world donโt recognise the island as an independent state.
China considers the island its territory and Beijing does not want the US to maintain diplomatic or military ties with that island. On the other hand, the US considers Taiwan an integral part of China but provides military support to the separatist forces there.
Recently, Taiwanโs โPresidentโ Tsai In-wen visited the US and met with the Speaker of the US House of Representatives, Kevin McCarthy. In response, China started a three-day military exercise in the Taiwan Strait from Saturday, April 8th onwards. Beijing described the exercise as a strong warning to the breakaway island and the US.
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