China Says It May Resort To Military Means Over Taiwan After Lithuania Spat
By Donald Standeford, Correspondent
Date Published: November 21st, 2021 08:00PM UTC
Last Modified: November 21st, 2021 08:00PM UTC
Beijing - The Global Times, China's state run media put out a warning that China may resort to 'military means' regarding Taiwan in the future after downgrading relations with Lithuania after the country allowed Taiwan to place an embassy and strengthened relations with Taipei.
In the article published by the Global Times China harshly criticized Lithuania for opening a representative office for Taiwan, calling the 'diplomatic victory' a 'collusion'.
"If the island's collusion with external forces gets out of control and it greatly adds costs for the Chinese mainland to maintain the one-China principle, then we will naturally make major adjustments to our policy toward the Taiwan Straits, including resorting to military means to resolve the Taiwan question at once", the Global Times stated.
"In an era in which the mainland's strength is seeing rapid growth, there is no room for Taiwan island to achieve a 'diplomatic victory.' Nor will there be an opportunity for trivial forces like Lithuania to lead the Western world to shake the one-China principle", the article added.
China's foreign ministry said that Lithuania "grossly interfered in China's internal affairs" by opening the representative office for Taiwan.
"We urge the Lithuanian side to correct its mistakes immediately and not to underestimate the Chinese people's firm determination and staunch resolve to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity", China's foreign ministry stated.
Another warning was issued by China's state run media in September after the Biden administration reportedly announced that it was thinking about changing the name of the representative office in Washington D.C. from the "Taipei Economic and Cultural Representative Office, or TECRO to the "Taiwan Representative Office".
Chinese state run media had responded to that with, "The name change provides the Chinese mainland with sufficient reason to strengthen our sovereign claim over the island of Taiwan".
