China calls US claims of military pressure on Taiwan a ‘distortion’

BEIJING - The United States’ claims about China exerting military pressure on Taiwan are distorted, and demonstrate its “malicious intentions”, a government spokesperson in Beijing said on April 15.

China has stepped up military activity around democratically governed Taiwan, which it views as its own territory, holding several rounds of war games, most recently with live-fire drills in late December.

“Certain people on the US side are jumping up and down, continuously rehashing the so-called ‘mainland threat’ or ‘military pressure’,” Mr Chen Binhua, a spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, told reporters.

This represented “a complete distortion of the facts and harbours malicious intentions”, he added, saying Taiwan was an internal affair for China, which would brook no outside interference.

Mr Chen urged the US to act with great caution, and handle Taiwan-related matters carefully and prudently.

China has repeatedly demanded a halt to weapons sales to Taiwan by the United States, its most important international backer, despite a lack of formal diplomatic ties.

The April 15 remarks came after the US State Department urged China last week to both talk to Taiwan and halt its military and other pressure on the island, after Taiwan opposition leader Cheng Li-wun met President Xi Jinping in Beijing.

China refuses to speak to Taiwan President Lai Ching-te, calling him a “separatist”.

Mr Lai rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, saying only Taiwan’s people can decide their future.

Ms Cheng said she aimed to foster peace with her visit, when China unveiled measures it said would benefit Taiwan, such as easing controls on exports of food, though it did not cease regular military activities around the island during her trip.

Ms Cheng, whose visit was a month before one planned by US President Donald Trump, hopes China and the US can reconcile and cooperate, she told a Taiwan radio station on April 15.

“We can definitely go down the path of peace,” said Ms Cheng, the chairwoman of Taiwan’s largest opposition party the Kuomintang, told a Taiwan radio station on April 15.

“Peace cannot be achieved by compromising and conceding sovereignty,” Mr Lai told a regular meeting of his Democratic Progressive Party later on April 15, describing love, peace and non-violence as making up its “founding spirit”.

China has never renounced the use of force to bring Taiwan under its control, but says it prefers “peaceful reunification”, a message it has ramped up in recent weeks.

Mr Chen hoped Taiwan’s people would see the advantages of such a step, from cheaper living costs to sprucing up aged housing.

“In short, national reunification is not only a great moral cause, but also of great benefit,” he added. REUTERS