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China-vows-crush-troops-Taiwan-force-Biden-abandoned-Afghanistan

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https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/articl ... istan.html

China vows to 'crush' any US troops on Taiwan 'by force' and conducts live fire naval exercises in South China Sea after Biden abandoned Afghanistan
Editorial in regime-backed paper lashed out at US Senator John Cornyn who erroneously stated there were 30,000 American soldiers stationed in Taiwan
Global Times piece called it 'equivalent to a military invasion of Taiwan Province'
China conducted naval drills off Taiwan on Tuesday in latest show of strength
Comes as Washington is still reeling from disastrous surrender of Afghanistan
By ROSS IBBETSON FOR MAILONLINE and WIRES

PUBLISHED: 15:28 BST, 18 August 2021

China today threatened to 'crush' any US troops stationed on Taiwan as it conducts live fire drills in the South China Sea after Joe Biden abandoned Afghanistan.

An editorial in the regime-backed Global Times lashed out at a since-deleted tweet by Senator John Cornyn which erroneously stated there were 30,000 American soldiers stationed in Taiwan.

The bombastic propaganda article said that if Sen. Cornyn's claim was true this 'is equivalent to a military invasion and occupation of the Taiwan Province of China. It is an act of declaring war on the People's Republic of China.'

It added that China would 'destroy and expel US troops in Taiwan by any means and realize reunification by force.'

Backing up this fiery rhetoric, Beijing dispatched warships and fighter jets for drills off Taiwan on Tuesday in its latest show of strength to Washington.

Although China is the dominant power in east Asia, many of its neighbours like Taiwan and Japan look to the US as their closest military partner. Beijing, therefore, revels in anything which undermines Washington's credibility.

Chinese state media pumped out the images of desperate Afghans flooding Kabul airport in an effort to flee on Monday as a sign of the chaos prompted by the US retreat.

On Tuesday, foreign ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said Washington had left 'an awful mess of unrest, division and broken families' in Afghanistan.

'America's strength and role is destruction, not construction.'

State media has peddled the idea that America's rush from Afghanistan reflects its fair-weather attitude to all allies - including in Taiwan, which seeks strength from Washington's security guarantee as it defies Beijing.

Biden, hammered over the disorderly retreat, has defended the withdrawal saying China and Russia would 'love nothing more' than his country to have continued to sink resources into the Afghanistan quagmire.

But Beijing now perhaps senses any opportunity to seize the impetus in the region with the US licking its wounds over its calamitous foreign policy decision to quit Afghanistan.

Warships, anti-submarine aircraft and fighter jets took part in the live fire drills in an undisclosed location off Taiwan on Tuesday.

People's Liberation Army spokesman Shi Yi called it a 'necessary activity in response to the recent situation in the Taiwan Strait.'

It follows recent passages by US and European military vessels through the disputed waters in the South China Sea.

Earlier this month, the Biden administration approved a $750 million arms deal with Taiwan that included 40 M109 self-propelled howitzers and 1,700 kits to convert missiles into GPS-guided projectiles.

However, Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen said today that the country needed to be 'stronger and more united' in ensuring its own defence following the chaos in Kabul.

The sudden departure of US troops has sparked discussion in Taiwan as to whether the US can be relied upon to come to Taipei's defence.

Tsai addressed those concerns directly in a Facebook post on Wednesday.

'Recent changes in the situation in Afghanistan have led to much discussion in Taiwan,' she wrote.

'I want to tell everyone that Taiwan's only option is to make ourselves stronger, more united and more resolute in our determination to protect ourselves.'

Tsai stressed that Taiwan should practice self-reliance.

'It's not an option for us to do nothing on our own and just to rely on other people's protection,' she said in the post.

She also said Taipei cannot rely on 'momentary goodwill or charity of those who will not renounce the use of force against Taiwan' in a clear reference to Beijing.

China has ramped up military, diplomatic and economic pressure since Tsai's 2016 election, as she sees Taiwan as 'already independent' and not part of its 'one China'.

But analysts say that Afghanistan and Taiwan are not easy comparisons.

'(Taiwan) is a core interest for the US in that it is a well-functioning democracy, loyal ally, (with) a capable military and directly standing up to America's most important competitor,' Robert Kelly, an international relations expert at Pusan National University, wrote on Twitter.
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