Chinese delegation says Indo-Pacific Strategy ‘fanning confrontation’ as US defense chief made ‘most barefaced’ Shangri-La speech attacking China
Global TimesJun 15, 2022
During the 19th Shangri-La Dialogue security summit in Singapore on Sun., China's Def. Min. Wei Fenghe announced that Beijing will "fight to the very end" to prevent Taiwan from declaring independence and emphasized that China's goal was "peaceful reunification."
In his address, the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLR) general also condemned the US for allegedly trying to "hijack" the support of regional nations against China under the guise of a free and open Indo-Pacific and multilateralism.
Having already destabilized the Middle East and plunged Europe into chaos, Washington is now increasingly turning its eye to China and the Indo-Pacific. However, it's all too obvious that for all the talk of a "free and open Indo-Pacific" and protecting Taiwan, Washington is primarily concerned with defending its hegemonic status. But by increasingly undermining China's territorial integrity and failing to honor its agreement to abide by the One China principle, Washington is playing with fire.
The battle between democracy and authoritarianism is in full swing, and China's imperial appetite must be firmly countered. That is why Biden did the right thing when he announced that the US would defend Taiwan. To deter Beijing and stand up for democratic values, it is high time for the US to move beyond "strategic ambiguity." However, joint efforts to defend the free world make US military modernization and rearmament indispensable.
There is a 54% chance that the People's Republic of China will have annexed at least half of Taiwan by 2050, according to the Metaculus prediction community.