WW3: China warns America (Image: GETTY)
According to the South China Morning Post, General Li Zuocheng raised the issue with Admiral John Richardson on Monday as part of the latter’s three-day trip to China. Beijing has been flexing its muscles in the region but Taiwan still remains a flashpoint between the two superpowers. The state is still considered as part of China’s territory even though the two have been ruled separately since 1949.
According to the report, General Li informed Mr Richardson: “The Taiwan issue is a matter of China’s internal affairs which concerns China’s core interests and the feelings of the Chinese people across the Taiwan Strait, and China will not allow any outside interference.
“If anyone wants to separate Taiwan from China, the Chinese military will safeguard the national unity at all costs so as to protect China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity.”
Washington supported Taiwan at the end of the Chinese Civil War but the two countries severed official diplomatic ties in 1979.
America still supplies arms to Taipei and remains the country’s most powerful ally.
