The Chinese military has warned Britain against interfering in Taiwan after its defence secretary, John Healey, said British forces were ready to fight if a conflict breaks out in the region.
Chinese defence ministry spokesman Col Zhang Xiaogang said on Wednesday that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) was ready to resist any foreign infringement on what Beijing considers its territorial integrity.
“The Taiwan question is purely an internal affair of China, which brooks no foreign interference,” said Col Zhang.
“We urge the UK side to be prudent about its words and actions on the Taiwan question, refrain from sending wrong signals to separatist forces for Taiwan independence and avoid undermining peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait. No one should underestimate the firm will and strong ability of the PLA to safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
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China sees the self-governing island of Taiwan as part of its national territory and Xi Jinping has repeatedly affirmed his determination to reunify it with the mainland. In common with all but a handful of countries, Britain recognises Beijing as the sole legitimate government of China but insists that Taiwan should remain a self-governing island.
Western powers have traditionally remained deliberately ambiguous about how they would respond to an attempt by Beijing to reintegrate Taiwan by force. But when asked in Australia last week what Britain was doing to help partners like Taiwan defend themselves against Chinese military threats, Mr Healey was more forthright.
“If we have to fight, as we have done in the past, Australia and the UK are nations that will fight together. We exercise together and by exercising together and being more ready to fight, we deter better together,” he said.
Col Zhang also criticised the United States’ Resolute Force Pacific, a drill involving its air force and forces from Japan and other countries in the western Pacific. The US said the exercise is designed to ensure that its forces can defend themselves and their partners in the Pacific.
“The US has been blindly flexing muscles in the Asia-Pacific region and attempting to use military drills as a pretext to gang up, intimidate and pressure other countries, and undermine peace and stability in the region,” said Col Zhang sai
He confirmed that China and Russia would conduct a joint naval exercise next month near the Russian port city of Vladivostok. The US and the European Union have expressed concern about the close military ties between Moscow and Beijing and about China’s support for Russia since the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Col Zhang said next month’s exercise was an annual event that was not directed at any third party and had nothing to do with any current conflict.
