BEIJING (Reuters) -The People’s Liberation Army “shows zero tolerance to Taiwan independence separatist activities”, a Chinese defence ministry spokesperson said on Thursday when asked about recent speeches made by Taiwan’s President Lai Ching-te.
The PLA will enhance combat readiness to firmly safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity, spokesperson Zhang Xiaogang told a regular press conference.
“The Lai authorities keep pushing Taiwan into a dangerous situation of war; they are the cause of harming the livelihood of the Taiwanese people,” Zhang said, adding that Lai’s comments showed his “ill intentions”.
Lai on Sunday began a series of 10 speeches on “uniting the country”, saying that democratically-ruled Taiwan was “of course a country” and that China had no legal or historical right to claim it.
Beijing and Taipei have clashed over their competing interpretations of history in an escalating war of words over what Beijing views as provocations from Taiwan’s government, saying it was impossible to “invade” what was already Chinese land.
Beijing has never renounced the use of force to bring the island under its control and has a particular dislike for Lai, describing him as a “separatist”. Taiwan strongly objects to China’s sovereignty claims and says it is up to the island’s people to decide their future.
Tensions between China and Taiwan, including several rounds of Chinese war games, have grown over the last five years and now include daily air and naval deployments near the island.
The last Chinese war games in April and October were widely seen by regional military attaches as a test of a possible blockade of Taiwan.
The U.S. and its regional allies are watching closely, with some officials saying that China’s deployments and its military modernisation have raised the possibility Beijing may one day make good on its threats to take Taiwan by force.
(Reporting by Laurie Chen; Writing by Greg Torode and Beijing newsroom; Editing by Himani Sarkar and Kate Mayberry)
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