• China vows to “fight to the bitter end” to prevent Taiwanese independence.
• It warns that foreign involvement in the self-ruled island is “doomed to fail.”
• Tensions are escalating with the US over the self-ruled island.

China has vowed to “fight to the bitter end” to prevent Taiwanese independence, warning that foreign involvement in the self-ruled island is “doomed to fail,” escalating already high tensions with the US over the self-ruled island.

“If someone dares to separate Taiwan from China, we will… fight at all costs and to the end.” “This is China’s only option,” Wei Fenghe, China’s defense minister, said on Sunday at the Shangri-La Dialogue security meeting.

“No one should ever underestimate the commitment and capabilities of the Chinese military forces to preserve its territorial integrity,” Wei stated in a heated reaction to US defense secretary Lloyd Austin, who spoke on Saturday.

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The superpowers are involved in a verbal battle over the self-governing, democratic island, which Beijing sees as part of its territory that needs to be reunited.

Wei claimed “some country keeps playing the Taiwan card against China” to “interfere in domestic matters,” a veiled jab at Washington.

“No one will be able to block China’s reunification,” he continued.

Tensions have risen over Taiwan, owing to increased Chinese military aircraft incursions within the island’s air defense identification zone (ADIZ).

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During a visit to Japan last month, US President Joe Biden appeared to defy decades of US policy when he responded to a question by saying that if Taiwan was invaded by China, Washington would support it militarily.

Since then, the White House has maintained that its strategy of “strategic ambiguity” on whether or not to intervene has remained unchanged.

China’s sweeping claims to the South China Sea, which sees trillions of dollars in yearly commercial traffic, have inflamed tensions with rival claimants Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, Taiwan, and Vietnam.

Read more: China calls the US a “bully” and vows to “fight to the end” for Taiwan