China warns of military action against Taiwan to block relations with US on eve of American visit

Name: Chinese military activity around Taiwan ‘potentially destabilising’, White House says
Uploaded: 2021-04-14T05:16:06.000Z
Duration: 51 s
Description: Chinese military activity around Taiwan ‘potentially destabilising’, White House says

Former US senator Chris Dodd and former deputy secretaries of state Richard Armitage and James Steinberg head to Taiwan at Biden’s request

Beijing’s Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council says China is ‘determined to stop Taiwan independence … we are doing it with action’

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On the eve of a visit by former US politicians to Taiwan at the request of US President Joe Biden, the US State Department said it would issue new guidelines to enable US officials to meet more freely with officials from Taiwan. Photo: EPA-EFE

Teddy Ng

Published: 1:16pm, 14 Apr 2021Updated: 8:50am, 15 Apr 2021

Beijing warned on Tuesday it was determined to stop Taiwan getting close to Washington with the use of military action, ahead of a visit by a former US politician and officials to the island at US President Joe Biden’s request.

Ma Xiaoguang, a spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said the recent deployment of the largest fleet of warplanes to Taiwan’s air defence identification zone (ADIZ) was to tell Taiwan that moving closer to the US to seek independence would fail.

“The signal given by the military drills is that we are determined to stop Taiwan independence, and stop Taiwan from working with the US. We are doing it with action,” Ma told reporters on Tuesday.

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Chinese military activity around Taiwan ‘potentially destabilising’, White House says

“We do not promise to abandon the use of force, and retain the option of taking all necessary measures. We are aimed at the interference of external forces and the very small number of separatists and their separatist activities. We are definitely not aimed at compatriots in Taiwan”.

Ma’s warning came as former US senator Chris Dodd and former deputy secretaries of state Richard Armitage and James Steinberg headed to Taiwan on Tuesday at Biden’s request.

The White House said the exchange was a “personal signal” of Biden’s commitment to Taiwan and its democracy.

They are expected to meet Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen on Thursday.

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