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BEIJING: China stepped up its rhetoric on Taiwan on Monday (September 21), describing any support for its independence as “doomed to fail”, and threatened to retaliate against US diplomatic visits to the island.
Taiwan has been ruled separately from China since the end of a civil war in 1949, but Beijing regards the island as part of its territory pending reunification.
The island is a hotbed of tension with Washington, which promises military support to the elected government and has sent two envoys to Taipei in as many months.
At a press conference on Monday, the Foreign Ministry said the envoys’ visits were a “political provocation” and threatened retaliation.
“China will take appropriate countermeasures, including targeting relevant people,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said, without elaborating.
He warned that US actions “will further damage cooperation” between the United States and China.
Wang added that any support for Taiwanese independence is a “dead end … doomed.”
Washington changed diplomatic recognition to Beijing in 1979.
Beijing rejects any recognition of Taiwan and has mounted a decades-long policy of marginalization of the democratic island.
Washington’s broader reach to Taiwan under President Donald Trump is among a catalog of sore points with Beijing as countries clash over issues like trade, security and the coronavirus pandemic.
US Under Secretary of State for Economic Growth, Energy and Environment Keith Krach wrapped up a trip to Taiwan over the weekend, following a trip by US Health Chief Alex Azar in August.
READ: Taiwan’s military says it has the right to fight back amid threats from China
Last Friday, Taiwan launched fighter jets as the Chinese military conducted exercises near the Taiwan Strait during Krach’s visit.
US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo accused China of “military bravado.”
