Taiwan rules out war with China

Taiwan says going to war with China is absolutely not an option as it also looks to boost its defences.

Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, who made the statement on Monday in her national day speech, reiterated her willingness to talk to Beijing.

Tsai said it was “regrettable” that China has escalated its intimidation and threatened peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait and region.

 “I want to make clear to the Beijing authorities that armed confrontation is absolutely not an option for our two sides. 

 “Only by respecting the commitment of the Taiwanese people to our sovereignty, democracy, and freedom can there be a foundation for resuming constructive interaction across the Taiwan Strait,” Tsai said.

Tsai said her government looked forward to the gradual post-pandemic resumption of healthy and orderly people-to-people exchanges across the strait, which would ease tensions.

But the broad consensus in Taiwan is that its sovereignty and free and democratic way of life must be defended, she added.

Also Read: China reiterates stance on peaceful unification with Taiwan 

“On this point, we have no room for compromise,” she said.

Tsai has made strengthening Taiwan’s defences a cornerstone of her administration to enable it to mount a more credible deterrence to China, which is ramping up an ambitious modernisation programme of its own military.

She said Taiwan is increasing mass production of precision missiles and high-performance naval vessels and working to acquire small, highly mobile weapons that will ensure Taiwan is fully prepared to respond to external military threats.

Tsai’s speech comes less than a week before China’s ruling Communist Party’s congress opens in Beijing.

Democratic Taiwan, which China claims as its territory, has come under increasing military and political pressure from Beijing, especially after the Chinese war games in early August following a Taipei visit by U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

Any conflict over Taiwan could drag in the United States, Japan and perhaps much of the world, as well as shatter the global economy, especially given Taiwan’s dominant position as a maker of semiconductors used in everything from smartphones and tablets to fighter jets.

Zainab Sa’id