Cape Town - China officials stood their ground in a war of words with the United States on Sunday at an annual defence conference in Singapore and vowed to 'fight to the end' for Taiwan.
According to Indo-Asian News Service, Chinese Defence Minister Wei Fenghe accused the US of being a "bully" and "hijacking" countries around the region at the ongoing 19th Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore, Asia's premier defence summit.
“Taiwan is part of China, and the Taiwan question is China's internal affair,” said Wei in response to a question regarding Taiwan.
“China will definitely realise its reunification… Those who pursue Taiwan independence in an attempt to split China will definitely come to no good end, and foreign interference is doomed to failure,” he said.
Wei added that if anyone dared to secede Taiwan from China, they would not hesitate to fight and pledged to “fight at all costs”.
The verbal confrontation at the weekend between the two nations come after US President Joe Biden had said Washington would respond with "militarily' in defending Taiwan against China.
The Washington Post further reported that Beijing claims to promote cooperation and not provoke trouble. However, the minister said that in the face of provocation, they would not flinch nor allow others to bully them.
Meanwhile, Wei and his counterpart, US Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin, agreed on the importance of communication in order to reduce risk during this time as the rivalry heats up.
IOL