China Warns Of Full Blown Military Conflict With US Over Taiwan
By Donald Standeford, Correspondent - Follow -
Date Published: January 28, 2022 08:53PM UTC
Last Modified: January 28, 2022 08:53PM UTC
BEIJING - While the world has been focused on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, China has warned the United States of a full blown military conflict over Taiwan.
Qin Gang who is China's ambassador to the United States stated during an interview with NPR on Thursday that the U.S. might face 'military conflict' with China regarding the future of Taiwan.
Qin warned the United States of being a part of Taiwan's plan to seek independence from China and said that "the Taiwan issue is the biggest tinderbox between China and the United States".
According to NPR, Qin said on Sunday "If the Taiwanese authorities, emboldened by the United States, keep going down the road for independence, it most likely will involve China and the United States, the two big countries, in a military conflict".
China said that they don't wish to go to war, but if Taiwan officially decides to declare independence, "China will not commit to giving up the un-peaceful means for reunification because this is a deterrence".
"People on both sides of the Taiwan Straits are Chinese, so we are compatriots. So the last thing we should do is to fight with compatriots. And we will do our utmost in the greatest sincerity to achieve a peaceful reunification" he said also adding that "China's most important relationship" is with the United States.
China sent 39 warplanes into Taiwan's Air Defense Identification Zone (ADIZ) on Sunday as tensions rise in the Indo-Pacific region after a U.S. Representative Predicted a Chinese invasion on Taiwan as early as next month. This is the largest incursion into Taiwan's airspace since October, 2021.
