(Beijing) Senior Chinese military officials told their American counterparts that China “will never make the slightest compromise” on the issue of Taiwan, the Chinese Defense Ministry said on Wednesday.
These statements were made during bilateral military discussions organized in Washington, a few days before the presidential election was held this weekend in Taiwan. The island’s politics are at the heart of tensions between China and the United States.
“On the issue of Taiwan, China will never make the slightest compromise or concession,” the Chinese military delegation said during bilateral talks, according to a ministry statement.
“It requires the United States to respect the principle of one China, to respect its promise in a concrete way by stopping arming Taiwan and opposing any independence for Taiwan,” he said. He underlines.
If the United States recognizes the People’s Republic of China as the only legitimate Chinese government, they are also the main military support of the island’s authorities (officially “the Republic of China”), which irks Beijing.
China considers Taiwan to be one of its provinces, which it has not yet managed to reunify with the rest of its territory since the end of the Chinese civil war in 1949.
She says she favors a “peaceful” reunification with the island, where the approximately 23 million inhabitants are governed by a democratic system. But it has never renounced the use of military force.
Taiwanese residents will vote on Saturday to elect their next president, an election closely watched by Beijing and Washington. Taiwan is one of their main points of friction.
China has also urged the United States to stop its “provocative actions” in the disputed South China Sea, where the two powers carried out parallel military maneuvers last week.
Chinese warships conducted exercises in the South China Sea on Thursday, as the Philippines trained with the US military after a series of incidents with Beijing in disputed waters.
“China urges the United States to reduce its military presence and provocative actions in the South China Sea,” senior Chinese military officials told their American counterparts, according to the Chinese Defense Ministry.