China’s leadership knows that using armed threats around Taiwan to try and force an outcome to Beijing’s liking in elections do not work, the Taiwanese foreign minister said on September 28.
China has over the past three years stepped up its military activities around Taiwan, including holding war games, and over the past month has staged more drills which China said were aimed at combating the “arrogance” of separatist forces.
Taiwan will hold its next presidential and parliamentary election in January.
Taiwan Foreign Minister Joseph Wu said China was preparing for a possible future attack against Taiwan, including how they would deal with a U.S. intervention. China has never renounced the use of force to bring democratically governed Taiwan under its control, viewing the island as one of its provinces.
In the news conference with foreign journalists, Wu also thanked Taiwan’s allies for speaking up in the recent United Nations General Assembly to include the self-ruled island. Due to a 1971 U.N. resolution, Taiwan has been excluded from the international body, which recognises the People’s Republic of China as the legitimate representative of China to the U.N.
(Inputs from Reuters)