China is putting its foot down over American meddling in its affairs, and is warning of a military response to the stationing of US military forces at a covert embassy in Taiwan. China consider Taiwan to be Chinese, and hence, no embassy could legitimately exist there. For this reason, if the US positions military on Chinese soil without permission from the Chinese government, the Chinese government is declaring that it will view this as an invasion, and respond accordingly.
Express reports
THE US could be planning a “military invasion” of China in an act of “severe subversion” if it sends marines to guard the de facto US embassy in Taiwan – and Beijing could be forced to retaliate according to Chinese state media.
A new report indicates the US is to deploy military personnel to the new American Institute in Taiwan (AIT).
Beijing has warned such a move would be a “subversion of the one-China policy” in an editorial in the Global Times.
It also warned it was grounds for China to deploy “an increasing number of countermeasures which Washington will have to confront”.
Although the decision has not been confirmed, The Global Times warned: “If the US Marines publicly station at the AIT in their uniforms, that would be treated by Beijing as a severe subversion of the one-China policy or even an invasion of the US military of Chinese soil.
“The AIT would also be regarded as a primary stronghold for the US invasion of China.
“Taiwan leader Tsai Ing-wen’s administration would be defined as a traitorous group.
“That being said, from a strategic perspective, the AIT would become the most insecure place in Taiwan and a blasting fuse for clashes.”
The AIT performs the functions of a US embassy, but it is not technically one.
There are also other questions which are yet to be answered, such as whether the US service members would be dressed in uniforms or casual clothing.
Senior research fellow at the Global Taiwan Institute, David An, said: “My sense is that the final decision is still under consideration inside the US State Department.”
The Chinese report also said if Washington “stirs up trouble and makes extreme arrangements; it knows how Beijing will respond”.
But Mr An said 10, 20 or even 30 US Marines in Taiwan protecting the AIT “would hardly be an ‘invasion’”.
He added this is because such a tiny number of US forces is “not a real capability against foreign militaries”.
Tensions between Beijing and Washington have been escalating over Taiwan and the ongoing trade dispute between the two nations.
The highest ranking US trade negotiator Robert Lighthizer said: “We clearly have a chronic problem with China.
“Some issues will be dealt with in a short period of time,” he said, but added that “directionally, we’re going to have a problem with China that’s going to go on for years.”
But Washington meddling in China’s affairs in its own back yard go way beyond Taiwan. There are also the Spratleys, and other islands in the South China Sea claimed by China, while the US continues with ‘freedom of navigation’ operations using the American NAVY as a means of curtailing China’s position on the matter. Then there’s the trade war, which is a story unto itself, but which still hasn’t abated, and which stands to do significant economic damage to both sides. But China is a ‘threat’ to US global hegemony, and the US won’t allow that. Hence the wars, trade and otherwise, continue.
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