Chinese President Xi Jinping. AP.
Washington: “Xi Jinping is preparing the Chinese people for war,” warned retired US Army lieutenant general and former national security adviser HR McMaster. His statement comes at a time when relations between China and Taiwan continue to become increasingly tense.
McMaster said that Chinese President Xi Jinping has made plans to control Taiwan several times and now is preparing its military to take control of the island nation.
“Xi Jinping has made it quite clear, in his statements, that he is going to make, from his perspective, China whole again by subsuming Taiwan,” HR McMaster said during an appearance on CBS News‘ Face the Nation.
‘China has become increasingly aggressive’
McMaster said, “China has become increasingly aggressive, not only from an economic and financial perspective and a wolf warrior diplomacy perspective, but physically, with its military.”
He went on to add that “What’s really disturbing is, I think, Xi Jinping is preparing the Chinese people for war.”
McMaster also said the Chinese president statements have become more serious in the past months which US must see as a threat of war.
He also warned that the US and its allies need to “be careful not to mirror image” or “fall into the same traps” they did with Russia when Vladimir Putin began an invasion in Ukraine.
How can Taiwan prevent war?
McMaster suggested that “deterrence” could be the best way to prevent a wide scale military war over Taiwan.
He further said that the US, which is spending more than $1.6 trillion on defence, should invest even more in national security as it would be “much more costly” to respond a war with China.
A report by The Guardian, in November, said that Xi told his military to “focus all its energy on fighting” to gear up for a potential war with Taiwan.
“Focus all [your] energy on fighting, work hard on fighting and improve [your] capability to win,” he had reportedly said.
China-Taiwan relations
Taiwan considers itself independent of China, however, Beijing has claimed the nation as its own and views control of the island essential to its policy of reunification.
China and Taiwan relations have soured long back over the island’s push for independence. It turned more tense amid increasingly aggressive Chinese leadership.
Taiwan considers itself independent of China and is recognised as a semi-autonomous state, but China has claimed it as its own and views control of the island as essential to its policy of reunification.
The ties between China and Taiwan got further affected in August last year after US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi made a historic visit to Taiwan. At the time, Beijing made several threats against her visit and launched military drills around the island.
Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.