There is no room for compromise over Taiwan and the US should not have any illusions about this, the Chinese Ministry of Defense said yesterday, adding that Washington had of late made a series of “provocations” on several issues.
China says that the status of Taiwan is the most sensitive issue in its ties with the US, which is Taiwan’s most important international backer and arms supplier.
Sharp differences over Taiwan persisted during a virtual meeting earlier this month between US President Joe Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平).
Photo: AP
Xi said that those in Taiwan who seek independence, as well as their supporters in the US, were “playing with fire.”
Asked at a monthly news briefing in Beijing to comment on military ties between the two countries in the light to those talks, Ministry of Defense spokesman Wu Qian (吳謙) said that having a healthy and stable relationship was good for both and what the world expected.
China is willing to maintain exchanges and cooperation with the US, he added.
“However, for a period of time, the US side has said a lot of irresponsible things and done a lot of provocative things on Taiwan, the South China Sea, and close up reconnaissance by warships and aircraft,” Wu said.
China has principles for the development of relations between the two militaries, and its sovereignty, dignity and core interests cannot be violated, he added.
“Especially on the Taiwan issue, China has no room for compromise, and the US side should not have any illusions about this,” he said.
Taiwan has denounced China for its stepped up diplomatic and military pressure to try and force the nation into accepting Chinese sovereignty.
President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) has vowed to defend the nation, and says only its people can decide its future.
CONFRONTATION: The water cannon attack was the second this month on the Philippine supply boat ‘Unaizah May 4,’ after an incident on March 5 The China Coast Guard yesterday morning blocked a Philippine supply vessel and damaged it with water cannons near a reef off the Southeast Asian country, the Philippines said. The Philippine military released video of what it said was a nearly hour-long attack off the Second Thomas Shoal (Renai Shoal, 仁愛暗沙) in the contested South China Sea, where Chinese ships have unleashed water cannons and collided with Philippine vessels in similar standoffs in the past few months. The China Coast Guard and other vessels “once again harassed, blocked, deployed water cannons, and executed dangerous maneuvers” against a routine rotation and resupply mission to
GLOBAL COMBAT AIR PROGRAM: The potential purchasers would be limited to the 15 nations with which Tokyo has signed defense partnership and equipment transfer deals Japan’s Cabinet yesterday approved a plan to sell future next-generation fighter jets that it is developing with the UK and Italy to other nations, in the latest move away from the country’s post-World War II pacifist principles. The contentious decision to allow international arms sales is expected to help secure Japan’s role in the joint fighter jet project, and is part of a move to build up the Japanese arms industry and bolster its role in global security. The Cabinet also endorsed a revision to Japan’s arms equipment and technology transfer guidelines to allow coproduced lethal weapons to be sold to nations
Thousands of devotees, some in a state of trance, gathered at a Buddhist temple on the outskirts of Bangkok renowned for sacred tattoos known as Sak Yant, paying their respects to a revered monk who mastered the practice and seeking purification. The gathering at Wat Bang Phra Buddhist temple is part of a Thai Wai Khru ritual in which devotees pay homage to Luang Phor Pern, the temple’s formal abbot, who died in 2002. He had a reputation for refining and popularizing the temple’s Sak Yant tattoo style. The idea that tattoos confer magical powers has existed in many parts of Asia
ON ALERT: A Russian cruise missile crossed into Polish airspace for about 40 seconds, the Polish military said, adding that it is constantly monitoring the war to protect its airspace Ukraine’s capital, Kyiv, and the western region of Lviv early yesterday came under a “massive” Russian air attack, officials said, while a Russian cruise missile breached Polish airspace, the Polish military said. Russia and Ukraine have been engaged in a series of deadly aerial attacks, with yesterday’s strikes coming a day after the Russian military said it had seized the Ukrainian village of Ivanivske, west of Bakhmut. A militant attack on a Moscow concert hall on Friday that killed at least 133 people also became a new flash point between the two archrivals. “Explosions in the capital. Air defense is working. Do not