China’s armed forces have promised not to cede any ancestral lands and annex any new ones amid the protracted territorial disputes that the powers in Asia are pitting against each other.
“We cannot lose an inch of the lands we inherited from our ancestors,” the Chinese Ministry of Defense Information Office said in a statement released Monday in response to a question about China’s national defense strategy. , “and we will not take a penny of others’ possessions.”
The remarks reflect the comments made earlier by Chinese President Xi Jinping to then-Defense Minister James Mattis during a visit to Beijing in June 2018. Tensions have since escalated between the two largest economies in the world, exacerbating the rift. in their competitive geopolitical views in areas such as Taiwan and the Eastern and South China Sea.
But the Bureau of Information said Beijing could both try to protect Chinese sovereignty while maintaining peace.
“China’s socialist nature, strategic decision – making on the path to peaceful development, independent foreign policy for peace and the Chinese cultural tradition of ‘peace is the most precious’, stipulate that China will steadfastly pursue a defensive national defense policy and insist on never gaining hegemony. do not seek, ”reads the statement.
“Never expand and never seek spheres of influence are the hallmarks of China’s national defense in the new era,” the statement said.
Since the founding of what Chinese authorities call ‘New China’, or the founding of the People’s Republic by the Chinese Communist Party in 1949, the statement reads that the country’s leadership ‘has never provoked a proactive war, and we have never does not penetrate a centimeter. country in other countries. ‘
Chinese People’s Liberation Army
Since the advent of modern China, the country has fought separatist movements and fought a number of limited border conflicts along its borders, including India, Vietnam, and the former Soviet Union. In an ongoing dispute involving both of these elements, China continues to threaten forced reunification with Taiwan, an autonomous island led by a government calling itself the Republic of China after losing a civil war to the mainland.
The United States switched international recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, but still maintains informal ties and provides military assistance to Taipei despite Chinese protests. The policy was expanded by former President Donald Trump, and President Joe Biden promised to continue to support Taiwan.
Last Wednesday, the U.S. Navy sent the Arleigh Burke class-led missile destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur across the Strait of Taiwan to demonstrate ‘the American commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific’. China has accused the US of making destabilizing movements in the region.
The new US government also rejected China’s claims to the South China Sea and challenged land formations such as the Spratlys and Paracel Islands. The US has done ‘freedom of navigation’ in the region, sometimes with international partners, to challenge China’s position.
The Information Office of the Chinese Ministry of Defense has accused countries of acting in this capacity to ‘create tensions, interfere in regional affairs and harm the common interests of regional countries’, without mentioning the US. The Ministry said it hoped these countries would rather make constructive contributions to peace and stability in the South China Sea, and avoid problems and tensions in the region, and would not experience problems or the situation in the South China Sea. Chinese Sea does not generate. ‘
Friction also originated in the East China Sea. Here, Biden’s officials expressed concern about Chinese action near the Pinnacle Islands, under the control of US ally Japan, which claims China as their own.
Diaoyu Island and its affiliated islands are the inherent territory of China, which has sufficient historical and legal basis, “the Chinese Defense Ministry’s Bureau of Defense said Monday with the Chinese name for the island named by Japan Senkaku. ships within the territorial waters of the country are legal and undisputed by the Chinese government, and will continue to be normalized. ‘
After members of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party in Japan suggested that the Japanese coastguard could use deadly force to repel Chinese vessels, Wang Wenbin, spokesman for the Chinese Foreign Ministry, doubled with claims he also “China ‘s inherent area ‘.
“China is determined and determined to protect its territorial sovereignty, and will respond resolutely to any defiant and dangerous action against Diaoyu Island,” Wang said.
AFP / China Central Television
Last year, a new front flared up for China when People’s Liberation Army personnel clashed with Indian troops at the border between China-led Aksai Chin and Ladakh. Both sides blame each other for the first bloodshed in this conflict in almost half a century, with India acknowledging 20 losses and China recognizing four.
Although India has traditionally not been aligned, it has grown close to the US in recent years. The two are being joined by Australia and Japan to form the quadrangular security dialogue, increasingly seen as a quasi-coalition against China, and the four met last week to discuss regional security.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Ned Price has promised that the US will continue to weigh on China’s domestic affairs, and approach China from a strong position through the prism of competition. This included joint action with the Quad and other allies and partners around the world.
Beijing views this gathering and Washington’s broader effort to compile the international community against China’s rise as a potential threat.
“The world today has entered a new era of peace, development, cooperation and win-win results,” the Chinese Bureau of Defense Information said. “The strengthening of the military alliance system against third parties is entirely a product of the Cold War mentality. It has long since become obsolete and had to be swept into the rubbish heap of history.”
The bureau has instead called for the improvement of bilateral relations between the US and China, including in the military field.
“Relations between China and America are at an important point,” the bureau said. “Cooperation between China and the United States will benefit both parties, and the fight will hurt both. Cooperation is the only right choice for both parties. ‘
US Department of Defense