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Xi Jinping planning invasion? Taiwan will be ‘punished’, China's diplomat says
Beijing claims Taiwan as its territory and has never renounced force to bring it under its control.
China's top diplomat warned that any steps towards Taiwan's independence would be "harshly punished", after the self-ruled island chose pro-sovereignty candidate William Lai Ching-te as president. China was against William Lai and said repeatedly that he is a dangerous separatist but Taiwan voters defied all calls delivering a comfortable victory for him.
Beijing claims Taiwan as its territory and has never renounced force to bring it under its control. On William Lai's victory China said that it would not change the "inevitable trend of China's reunification".
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"If anyone on the island of Taiwan thinks of going for independence, they will be trying to split apart China's territory, and will certainly be harshly punished by both history and the law," Wang Yi said, adding, “This is a dead end. No matter what the results of the election are, they cannot change the basic fact that there is only one China and Taiwan is a part of it.”
"Taiwan has never been a country. It wasn't in the past, and it certainly won't be in the future," Wang Yi said asserted.
He warned, "seriously threatens the well-being of Taiwan compatriots, seriously harms the fundamental interests of the Chinese nation, and seriously jeopardises peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait region".
