A top CCP military official threatened to take Taiwan by military force at a recent forum in Beijing. The Ministry of National Defense of the Republic of China (Taiwan) responded to the threat by stating that Taiwan is not intimidated and prepared. Taiwan’s Mainland Affairs Council and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs criticized the CCP as a troublemaker that undermines peace in the Taiwan Strait and the region.
Zhang Youxia, Vice Chairman of the CCP’s Central Military Commission, said at the 10th Beijing Xiangshan Forum on Oct. 30 that Taiwan is “the core of China’s core interests” and “the ‘one-China principle’ is the general consensus of the international community. No matter who wants to separate Taiwan from China in any form, The CCP military will never agree or show any mercy.”
Sun Lifang, a spokesperson for The Ministry of National Defense of the Republic of China (Taiwan) responded to Zhang’s threat at a regular press conference on Oct. 31: “We have entered a new era where using force to resolve disputes is not in line with human values. So basically the national military’s position is to actively prepare for war, not to provoke war, nor intimidated by it, and being capable of ensuring peace and security in the Taiwan Strait.”
Constant Threat to Regional Peace
Taiwan’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson Liu Yongjian said on Oct. 31 that the speech by the Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission of the CCP only once again proved that the CCP “is an out-and-out militaristic country and a troublemaker that undermines peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and regional peace. The CCP’s persistent threats to use force against Taiwan will endanger regional peace and stability and will only increase the general resentment of the Taiwanese people and the international community.”The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reiterated that the Republic of China Taiwan, and the People’s Republic of China are not affiliated with each other. The CCP has never ruled Taiwan for a day. This is a fact clearly recognized by all countries and an objective status quo. “No country has the right nor is it possible to deny our country’s sovereign status by a statement or issuing a so-called joint statement with other countries,” it said.
Colonel Luo Zhengyu, an intelligence officer at the Intelligence Research Center of Taiwan’s Ministry of National Defense’s Intelligence Division, told The Epoch Times that the CCP has never given up using force to invade Taiwan. “As long as the CCP’s defense policy remains unchanged, the threat to Taiwan will always exist.”
Wang Yanjun, director of former Taiwan’s President Lee Teng-hui’s office, pointed out at a national security forum in Taiwan that “since the Nationalist government relocated to Taiwan in 1949 [from mainland China], we have been under the threat of war, which means that the CCP’s threat of force against Taiwan has never stopped.” He emphasized that “the entire national defense education should tell everyone what real war looks like and what we can do in war. In fact, many people in Taiwan do not understand war.”
