By Joe Cash and Ben Blanchard
BEIJING/TAIPEI (Reuters) -China will not promise to renounce the use of force on Taiwan, but this is aimed at outside interference and a small minority of separatists, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said on Wednesday following the latest military exercises. country war around the island.
China, which considers democratically governed Taiwan its own territory, on Monday hosted a day of large-scale exercises around the island that it said were a warning against “separatist acts” following the week’s national day speech. passed by the president of Taiwan, Lai Ching-te.
“We are willing to fight for the prospect of peaceful reunification with the utmost sincerity and effort,” Chen Binhua, spokesman for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, said at a regular news conference in Beijing.
“But we will never commit to renouncing the use of force,” he said.
However, this is aimed at interference from “external forces” – referring to the United States and its allies – and the very small number of Taiwan separatists, not the vast majority of Taiwan’s people, Chen said.
Taiwan’s government rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims and says only the island’s people can decide its future.
Speaking to reporters in Taipei on Wednesday, Taiwan’s National Security Bureau Director-General Tsai Ming-yen said China’s exercises had failed given the international condemnation they generated, especially from Washington.
“The Chinese communists’ military exercise has created a negative effect by making the international community more supportive of Taiwan,” he said.
Lai, in his Oct. 10 speech, said China has no right to represent Taiwan, but that the island was willing to work with Beijing to combat challenges such as climate change, adopting a tone both firm and conciliatory that, according to Taiwan officials, was a show of goodwill toward Beijing.
Chen, the Chinese spokesman, said Lai had remained firm in his “stubborn separatist position.”
“There was no goodwill to speak of,” he added.
Lai has repeatedly offered talks with China but has been rebuffed.
The Chinese military on Monday kept open the possibility of holding more exercises in Taiwan depending on the level of “provocation.”
Tsai said the government remains on alert for further military action.
“We cannot rule out any possibility,” he added.
For the past five years, China has sent warships and warplanes into the waters and skies around Taiwan almost daily.
On Wednesday morning, in its daily update on Chinese activities in the previous 24 hours, Taiwan’s Defense Ministry said it had detected 22 Chinese military aircraft and five navy ships.