US, Allies Make ‘Show’ Hyping Taiwan Question During UNGA

Moves to have little positive response; will push mainland to beef up preparation: expert

By GT staff reporters

Sep 22, 2022 01:32 AM

Photo: A view of the Taipei city, Taiwan island

 The US has been attempting to launch a new round of attack on China over the Taiwan question with its allies during the UN General Assembly, and Chinese observers said with each move the US and its allies took to embolden the Taiwan secessionist forces at international occasions, the Chinese mainland will make secessionist forces bear more risks and eventually wear out the external interference. 

Observers said the US is walking toward a dead end in hyping the Taiwan question as most of its diplomatic statements and warships' transit of the Taiwan Straits with its allies only served as political shows, and US' related hype and possible more moves during UN General Assembly will have little positive response as the one-China principle is an international consensus. 

After the US Navy destroyer USS Higgins and Royal Canadian Navy frigate HMCS Vancouver on Tuesday made a transit through the Taiwan Straits and publicly highlighted the event, the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Eastern Theater Command on Wednesday stated that its troops have kept US and Canadian warships under close monitoring when they transited the Taiwan Straits, and the troops of the PLA Eastern Theater Command are always on high alert, will resolutely counter any threats and provocations, and will firmly safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity, Senior Colonel Shi Yi, spokesperson of the PLA Eastern Theater Command, said in a statement released on Wednesday. 

By ganging up with Canada, the US wants to embolden itself for such operations as now that the PLA has the absolute advantage in the Straits, and such transits are only political shows, analysts said.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at Wednesday's media briefing that US warships have repeatedly flexed their muscles in the Taiwan Straits for provocations, and rallied gangs for pressure and intimidation, which has exacerbated tensions and jeopardized regional peace and stability.

Wang said China urges the US to correct its mistakes and refrain from being a troublemaker for regional peace and stability.

US President Joe Biden said at his speech at the United Nation General Assembly on Wednesday that the US remains "committed to its One China policy," though just a few days ago Biden said again US troops will "defend Taiwan" if China makes an "unprecedented attack."

Also on Tuesday of the transit of US and Canadian warships, the British Prime Minister Liz Truss "condemned provocations over Taiwan by China" in a meeting with her Japanese counterpart Fumio Kishida at the UN General Assembly, according to Reuters. 

A Downing Street spokesperson said on Tuesday that Truss said China's recent "provocations over Taiwan" "threatened" Japan's Special Economic Zone. 

Chinese analysts said US allies' moves were just symbolic made either by coercion of the US or for gaining political interests in their own countries, and they could not take any real actions in supporting the Taiwan secessionists since they do not have the capability to interfere in the Taiwan question when Taiwan Straits face a real crisis. 

Chen Yuanfeng, deputy head of the Taiwan Affairs Office of State Council, said at a press briefing on Wednesday that the mainland is growing more powerful in striking against Taiwan secessionism and foreign interference, with a firmer will and determination to achieve national reunification. "The historical trend of the reunification of the motherland cannot be changed by any force's obstruction or destruction."

Nowhere to run 

Lü Xiang, a research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times on Wednesday that the Canadian warship's transit and remarks of Truss were just symbolic moves as they certainly won't be able to play any role when there is a real crisis or conflict in the Taiwan Straits. 

Xin Qiang, director of the Taiwan studies center with Fudan University and deputy head of the university's US studies center, told the Global Times on Wednesday that for Truss, getting tough on China is her main card to gain political domestic support. 

Washington's allies play the "Taiwan card" not to support the secessionists on the island, but in an attempt to contain China under the strategic guidance of the US, said Xin.

For Japan, Lü warned that as a close neighbor of China, if it involves itself in the conflicts in the Taiwan Straits along with the US, the consequences will be that the "US may flee but Japan will have nowhere to run." 

Experts said that if Japan hands over of its land to the US military as an outpost for intervention in the Taiwan question, it would indicate that it also allows itself to be a target of the PLA and as Japan's strategic depth is very small, any military target can be easily targeted. 

As the 77th Session of the UN General Assembly continued this week, it's likely that the US may mobilize allies to use any chances available to help the Taiwan DPP authorities to gain more international space, such as colluding with Tsai Ing-wen's authorities to repeat their false claims that the UN General Assembly Resolution 2758 neither resolves the issue of the representation of the island of Taiwan and its people in the UN system nor addresses the relationship between it and the People's Republic of China, according to Lü. 

With China increasingly taking an upper hand in resolving the Taiwan question, foreign forces such as the US will increasingly find it harder to interfere in the question, analysts said. 

In recent two transits in the Taiwan Straits, the US both deployed two warships instead of one, and Song Zhongping, a Chinese mainland military expert and TV commentator, told the Global Times on Wednesday that two warships of the US or led by the US sailed through the Taiwan Straits instead of one warship as usual, and this exposed that the US lacked confidence and wanted to embolden itself. 

Lü said the US' capability is declining and it is walking towards a dead end in coercing countries to hype the Taiwan question, and only small countries like Lithuanian would blindly follow it. 

Xin said China has been well prepared for US' interference in the Taiwan question, including Washington's potential action in the event of a conflict across the Taiwan Straits, and latest US' moves will further push China to increase preparation and beef up its strength, he said.