One of the highest officials in the Chinese military accused US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin of “distorting the facts” about the status of the island that China considers part of its territory.
Tension grows: China and the United States accuse each other over Taiwan
Photo: Reuters
One of the highest officials of the chinese army accused this Saturday United States Secretary of DefenseLloyd Austin, of “distort the facts” about the status of taiwan, an island that China considers part of its territory. The climb occurs in the middle of a renewed tension and the call for dialogue as a way to reduce conflict risks.
“The US comments on Taiwan ignore the facts, distort the truth and they are completely wrong”pointed out the deputy chief of the General Staff of the Central Military Commission of the country, Jing Jianfeng, in the vicinity of the Shangri-La Talks security forum, which is held in Singapore. The general accused Austin of “trying to wriggle out of the ‘one China’ principle”, by which Beijing has claimed complete sovereignty over Taiwan for decades, “a sacred and inalienable part of Chinese territory,” said the Europa Press news agency.
Given the increase in tension in recent months, characterized by visits by US officials to the island, responded by China with maneuvers on the continent and approaches to the territory’s security line, the general indicated that his country “does not seek conflict or confrontation”but also warned that China “will not flinch from any act of coercion”, according to statements reproduced by the South China Morning Post newspaper.
Taiwan F-16
Photo: Reuters
The United States had proposed a formal meeting between Austin and his Chinese counterpart, Li Shangfuin that forum in Singapore, but the Asian giant did not accept the invitation. Both leaders shook hands the night before and spoke briefly during the opening dinner of this summit, but the meeting did not go further, the AFP news agency reported.
“The United States believes that open lines of communication with the People’s Republic of China are essential, especially among our defense and military leaders,” Austin said at Shangri-La. “The more we talk, the more we can avoid misunderstandings and miscalculations that can lead to a crisis or a conflict,” added the Pentagon leader.
Another member of the Chinese delegation, Colonel Zhao Xiaozhuo, indicated that Beijing also considered maintaining lines of communication essential., but added that “the problem is for the United States to stop provoking China’s security.” The Pentagon chief said he was “deeply concerned that (China) does not want to engage more seriously in better mechanisms of crisis management between the two armies.
He also reproached the Asian giant “an alarming number of dangerous interceptions of US and allied aircrafts legally flying in international airspace.” One such incident occurred last week when, according to the US military, a Chinese fighter performed “an unnecessarily aggressive maneuver” near a US surveillance plane operating in the China Sea. Southern. The army of the Asian country argued that the US plane “entered” a military training area.
Source: Ambito
