China blasts US ‘bully’

Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe on Sunday accused the United States of being a “bully” and “hijacking” countries around the region, during a combative speech in which he said his country would “fight to the very end” to stop Taiwanese independence.

“Taiwan is first and foremost China’s Taiwan,” Wei told the Shangri-La Dialogue, Asia’s premier defense conference, adding that China would “not hesitate” to crush any attempt by the self-governed island to “secede.”

The speech — which came just weeks after US President Joe Biden said the US would respond “militarily” if China attacked Taiwan — capped a weekend of confrontational exchanges between the American and Chinese military chiefs.

Wei also called out US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, who had told the conference a day earlier that China was engaged in coercive, aggressive and dangerous actions that threatened to “undermine security, stability and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific.”

Austin had also talked about US coalition-building in the region and its joint military exercises with Japan, Australia, India and Indonesia, but Wei said this was a kind of “power politics” that China rejected.

“No one and no country should impose its will on others, or bully others under the guise of multilateralism,” Wei said.

“We notice Secretary Austin’s remarks on the US Indo-Pacific strategy. To us, the strategy is an attempt to build an exclusive, small group in the name of a free and open Indo-Pacific, to hijack countries in our region and target one specific country. It is a strategy to create conflict,” Wei said.

Source: CNN