China’s armed forces have vowed not to give up any ancestral land, nor to attach any new land, amid prolonged territorial disputes that pit powers against each other in Asia.
“We cannot lose a single inch of the land we inherited from our ancestors,” said the Chinese Defense Ministry’s Information Bureau in a statement published Monday in response to a question about China’s national defense strategy, “and not we would take a single cent from the possessions of others. “
The comments echoed comments previously made by Chinese President Xi Jinping to then Defense Secretary James Mattis during a visit to Beijing in June 2018. Since then, tensions have worsened between the world’s two largest economies, widening the gap in their rival geopolitical views in areas like Taiwan and the seas of eastern and southern China.
But the Information Bureau said Beijing could either seek to safeguard Chinese sovereignty or maintain peace at the same time.
“China’s socialist nature, strategic decision-making on the path of peaceful development, independent foreign policy on peace and the Chinese cultural tradition of ‘peace is the most precious’ determine that China will unswervingly pursue a defensive and national defense policy will insist on never seeking hegemony, “said the statement.
“Never expanding and never seeking spheres of influence are the hallmarks of China’s national defense in the new era,” the statement said.
Since the founding of what Chinese officials call “New China” or the establishment of the People’s Republic by the Chinese Communist Party in 1949, the statement said that the country’s leadership “has never proactively provoked a war and we have never invaded an inch of land in others. countries. “
Chinese People’s Liberation Army
Since the rise of modern China, the country has struggled against separatist movements and a series of limited border conflicts along its borders, including against India, Vietnam and the former Soviet Union. In an ongoing dispute that incorporates these two elements, China continues to threaten forced reunification with Taiwan, an autonomous island led by a government that calls itself the Republic of China after losing a civil war with the continent.
The United States moved international recognition from Taipei to Beijing in 1979, but continues to maintain informal ties and provide military assistance to Taipei, despite Chinese protests. The policy was expanded by former President Donald Trump, and President Joe Biden promised to continue supporting Taiwan.
Last Wednesday, the United States Navy sent the Arleigh Burke class guided missile destroyer USS Curtis Wilbur across the Taiwan Strait to demonstrate “the US commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific.” China accused the United States of conducting destabilizing movements in the region.
The new United States administration also rejected China’s claims about the South China Sea and challenged land formations such as the Spratlys and Paracel islands. The United States conducted “freedom of navigation” operations in the area, sometimes with the help of international partners, to challenge China’s position.
The Chinese Defense Ministry’s Information Office accused the nations acting in this capacity of “creating tension, interfering in regional affairs and harming the common interests of regional countries”, without naming the United States. The Ministry said it expected these countries, instead, to “make constructive contributions to peace and stability in the South China Sea, and to refrain from creating problems and causing tensions in the region, and will not create problems or agitate the situation in the South Sea. South China. “
Frictions also arose in the East China Sea. Here, Biden officials have expressed concern about Chinese actions near the Pinnacle Islands, under the control of the U.S. ally, Japan, which China claims is its own.
Diaoyu Island and its affiliated islands are inherent territory in China, which has a sufficient historical and legal base, “said the Chinese Defense Ministry’s Information Office on Monday, using the Chinese name for the island referred to as Senkaku by Japan. ” Law enforcement activities carried out. Chinese government ships within the country’s territorial waters are legitimate and indisputable and will continue to be standardized. “
After members of the Liberal Democratic Party of Japan suggested that the Japanese Coast Guard could use lethal force to ward off Chinese ships, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesman, Wang Wenbin, doubled his criticism of what he also called “inherent territory of China”.
“China is determined and firmly determined to safeguard its territorial sovereignty and will resolutely respond to any provocative and dangerous action against Diaoyu Island,” said Wang.
AFP / China Central Television
A new front for China broke out last year when people from the People’s Liberation Army clashed with Indian troops on the border between Aksai Chin administered by China and Ladakh administered by India. Both sides blame each other for the first bloodshed in this conflict in almost half a century, with India admitting 20 losses and China recognizing four.
Although traditionally not aligned, India has grown close to the USA in recent years. Australia and Japan joined the two to form the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, which is increasingly seen as a quasi-coalition against China, and the quartet met last week to discuss regional security.
State Department spokesman Ned Price has pledged that the United States will continue to weigh in on China’s internal affairs and approach China “through the prism of competition from a position of strength”. This included joint action with Quad and other allies and partners around the world.
Beijing sees this meeting and Washington’s broader attempt to rally the international community against China’s rise as a potential threat.
“Today’s world has entered a new era of peace, development, cooperation and win-win results,” said the Chinese Ministry of Defense’s Information Department. “The strengthening of the system of military alliances against third parties is a product entirely of the Cold War mentality. It has long been out of date and should have been thrown into the rubbish of history.”
Instead, the bureau called for an improvement in bilateral relations between the US and China, including in the military domain.
“Sino-American relations are at an important moment,” said the agency. “Cooperation between China and the United States will benefit both sides, and the struggle will harm both. Cooperation is the only right choice for both parties.”
US Department of Defense