BEIJING (Al-Jazeera) - China has warned Taiwan that foreign politicians who interact with the self-governing island are “playing with fire”.
A spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said on Wednesday that Beijing was recommitted in the New Year to “safeguarding sovereignty and territorial integrity” and “smashing plots for Taiwan independence”.
“The malicious support for Taiwan independence among anti-China elements in a few foreign countries are a deliberate provocation,” the spokesperson, Ma Xiaoguang, said at a biweekly news conference.
“We call on the relevant countries to … cease sending the wrong signals to Taiwan independence separatist forces and cease playing with fire on the question of Taiwan,” Ma said.
China views Taiwan as Chinese territory that must be brought under Beijing’s control, and by force if necessary.
China’s state-run Global Times newspaper tweeted the Taiwan Affairs Office warning that Taiwan’s “‘secession’ is doomed to fail” and that Taiwan’s independence “is an act waiting to be punished”.
At the end of December, China sent a record 71 planes and seven ships towards Taiwan – the largest such exercise in 2022.
This week, Taiwan’s military is staging its own military drills.