Shangri-La security summit: Beijing threatens, but wants to avoid turmoil
Wei Fenghe took advantage of the Shangri-la dialogue platform on Sunday to affirm that if Taipei declared its independence, China would fight “at all costs”.
AFP - ROSLAN RAHMAN
Text by: RFI Follow
3 mins
China repeats that it intends to "fight to the end" to prevent Taiwan from declaring its independence.
In any case, this is what the Chinese Minister of Defense, Wei Fenghe, declared during his speech this Sunday at the Shangri-La security summit in Singapore, and this, while the war in Ukraine has postponed Taiwan at the center of international attention.
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With our correspondent in Beijing
,
Stéphane Lagarde
It is not China's discourse that has changed, it is the context that Beijing regularly reminds us of.
As countries in the Asia-Pacific region worry about China-US tensions around
Taiwan
and the People's Liberation Army's expansionist plans in
the China Seas
, Wei Fenghe took advantage of Shangri- This Sunday, to denounce once again the
United States
and "
their clique
" who erect "
walls
" by targeting "
a specific country
", he said.
China - in the position of a victim - defends itself against a policy of "
exclusive blocs
" - an allusion to the security groups initiated by Washington in the region such as the
Aukus pact
or the Quad -, a policy of "
confrontation
" too who would oppose the “
peaceful
” vision of Beijing which would only defend its sovereignty, further asserts the Chinese Minister of Defense.
Prioritize peaceful reunification
"
Wei Fenghe first explained that China was working with the greatest possible sincerity for peaceful reunification and that the peaceful path was of course the one favored by China
", explains Mathieu Dûchatel, the director of the Asia program of the Institut Montaigne joined in Singapore, “
before then using fairly strong terms
”.
Wei Fenghe indeed affirmed that if Taipei proclaimed its independence, China would fight “
at all costs
” and “
to the end
”.
Mathieu Dûchatel believes that with this speech by the Minister of Defense there is a reaffirmation of a policy which has evolved little, but which is in a particular strategic context.
Because after responding to what he considers to be "
slander
" from Washington, the general who heads the Chinese delegation to Singapore has in fact used the word "
war
" several times about Ukraine.
Taiwan at the center of international attention
Because the international context is also that of the Russian invasion and the Ukrainian resistance, which showed Beijing that a reunification by force of Taiwan would be risky, to say the least.
While for their part, the United States, due to the context, is reversing the sanctions imposed on China by the Trump administration in an attempt to curb inflation which is strongly affecting American households.
"
So Russia's invasion of Ukraine puts the issue of Taiwan back in the center of international attention, especially since there are very strong tensions in Sino-American relations and there are also the presidential election at the start of 2024, which will be extremely important
”, recalls the director of the Asia program at the Institut Montaigne.
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To read: Shangri-la security summit: tense dialogue between the United States and China
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