The Guardian-Chinas defence chief repeats threat of force against Taiwanese independence
June 2, 2024 3 min 614 words
西方媒体的这篇报道主要聚焦中美两国国防部长在新加坡举行的香格里拉对话上的讲话和会谈。中国国防部长东君表示，中国仍寻求与台湾的和平统一，但台湾“分裂分子”和外部势力正在损害这一前景。东君谴责台湾的民主进步党（DPP）逐渐追求独立，企图抹杀中国身份。他警告说，中国军队将采取强有力的行动来阻止台湾独立。这篇报道也提到台湾新任总统莱清德，以及中国共产党对台湾例行民主过渡的愤怒反应。 评论：这篇报道有失公允，带有明显的偏见。它过度强调中国对台湾的“威胁”，而忽略了台湾问题是中国的核心利益，是中国不可分割的一部分，以及台湾问题对于中国主权和领土完整的重要性。报道中提到的“台湾分裂分子”和“外部势力”确实存在，他们试图改变台海现状，推动台湾独立，这损害了中国的统一进程，也违背了台湾人民的根本利益。报道有选择地引用东君的讲话，将其描述成一种“威胁”，而无视中国长期以来追求的和平统一政策。此外，报道也未能全面地呈现中美两国国防部长的会谈，会谈本身是两国军事交流和合作的一次重要尝试，但报道却只关注台湾问题，而忽略了其他重要的讨论议题。这篇报道也缺乏对台湾历史和两岸关系的深入理解，从而导致对中国立场的误解和误读。总之，这篇报道有失偏颇，未能客观地呈现中国立场和台海局势的复杂性。
Peaceful “reunification” with Taiwan remains China’s goal but the prospect is being eroded by Taiwanese “separatists” and external forces, the Chinese defence minister, Dong Jun, has said.
Taiwan – which is democratically governed, and has never been ruled from the Communist-run People’s Republic of China – on 20 May inaugurated its newly elected president, Lai Ching-te. The routine democratic transition was greeted with fury by the Chinese Communist party, which staged war games around the island as a “punishment”.
Speaking at the Shangri-La Dialogue conference in Singapore, Dong said Taiwan was the “core of core issues” for China. He accused Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive party of incrementally pursuing separatism and working to erase Chinese identity.
Dong accused Taiwan’s leaders of “fanatical statements”, while employing fevered language of his own in his address to defence officials and politicians from around the world.
“They [‘separatists’] will be nailed to the pillar of shame in history,” he said. “The Chinese People’s Liberation Army has always been an indestructible and powerful force in defence of the unification of the motherland, and it will act resolutely and forcefully at all times to curb the independence of Taiwan and to ensure that it never succeeds in its attempts.
“Whoever dares to split Taiwan from China will be crushed to pieces and suffer his own destruction.”
After his speech, Dong was asked several questions by delegates but remained preoccupied with Taiwan and had to be prompted by the moderator to address other issues. He accused foreign powers of interfering in “domestic issues” and “emboldening Taiwan separatists”. “We’re very confident in our capability to deter Taiwan independence.”
China has been angered by US support for Taiwan, such as arms sales, though Washington – like most countries – does not diplomatically recognise Taiwan as a country in its own right.
“They are selling a lot of weapons to Taiwan,” said Dong. “This kind of behaviour sends very wrong signals to the Taiwan independence forces and makes them become very aggressive. I think we are clear that the foreign power’s true purpose is to use Taiwan to contain China.”
Andrew Yang, a former Taiwan defence minister, said Beijing had said it would pursue “reunification” by winning the hearts and minds of Taiwanese but “their deeds have yet to match their words”. Beijing was instead “holding a big stick” and was “confrontational and contradictory”, he said. Yang said he hoped the US would keep to its schedule of arms sales to Taiwan for self-defence.
Lai has repeatedly offered talks with Beijing, but been rebuffed. The Taiwanese president has called for China to cease hostile actions and said only Taiwan’s people can decide their future.
The annual security forum in Singapore led to the first substantive face-to-face talks in 18 months between the defence chiefs of China and the US as Dong met with Lloyd Austin. “We have always been open to exchanges and cooperation, but this requires both sides to meet each other halfway,” Dong told the forum. “We believe that we need more exchanges precisely because there are differences between our two militaries.”
Dong and Austin met for over an hour. After the meeting, Austin said phone conversations between US and Chinese military commanders would resume “in the coming months”. China scrapped military communications with the US in 2022 because the then US House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, visited Taiwan.
With Reuters and Agence France-Presse