Singapore:
Chinese Defense Minister Dong Jun warned on Sunday that his military is ready to “forcibly” prevent Taiwan’s independence, but called for greater exchanges with the United States.
The remarks at an annual security forum in Singapore followed the first substantial face-to-face talks in 18 months between the two countries’ defense chiefs.
“We have always been open to exchanges and cooperation, but this requires both sides to meet each other halfway,” Dong said at the Shangri-La Dialogue, where he met with US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin on Friday .
“We believe we need more exchanges precisely because there are differences between our two militaries.”
Dong and Austin met for more than an hour at the luxury hotel that hosted the forum, which is attended by defense officials from around the world and which in recent years has been seen as a barometer of US-China relations.
After the meeting, Austin said telephone conversations between US and Chinese military commanders would resume “in the coming months”, while Beijing welcomed the “stabilization” of security relations between the countries.
This year’s Shangri-La Dialogue comes a week after China held military exercises around self-ruled Taiwan and warned of war on the U.S.-backed island following the inauguration of President Lai Ching-te, who Beijing described as a “separatist dangerous”.
“The Chinese People’s Liberation Army has always been an indestructible and powerful force in defending the unification of the motherland, and will always act with determination and strength to restrict Taiwan’s independence and to ensure that it never succeeds in its attempts,” Dong told the forum on Sunday.
“Whoever dares to separate Taiwan from China will be torn to pieces and will suffer their own destruction.”
In the South China Sea, which China claims almost entirely and where it has been involved in clashes with Philippine ships, Dong warned of the “limits” of Beijing’s containment.
“China has maintained sufficient restraint in the face of rights violations and provocations, but there are limits to this,” Dong said.
Hotspot disputes
President Joe Biden’s administration and China have been stepping up communication to ease friction between the nuclear-armed rivals, with Secretary of State Antony Blinken visiting Beijing and Shanghai last month.
A main focus has been the resumption of dialogue between military personnel, which is seen as essential to prevent specific disputes from getting out of control.
China halted military communications with the United States in 2022 in response to then-US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.
Tensions between Washington and Beijing were further heightened by issues such as an alleged Chinese spy balloon that was shot down over US airspace, a meeting between then-Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen and Pelosi’s successor, Kevin McCarthy, and American military aid to Taipei.
China is also furious about the United States’ deepening defense ties in the Asia-Pacific, particularly with the Philippines, and its regular deployment of warships and fighter jets in the Taiwan Strait and the South China Sea. .
Beijing sees this as part of a decades-long US effort to contain it.
The two sides agreed, following a summit between Chinese leader Xi Jinping and Biden last November, to restart high-level military talks, including on military operations near Taiwan, Japan and the South China Sea.
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