China’s ambition to “unify” with Taiwan cannot be stopped by any force or country, a government spokesperson said in a message to the United States on Monday.
At a regular Foreign Ministry press conference in Beijing, Zhao Lijian cautioned President Joe Biden’s administration against further contact with the democratic island, where public opinion of China has slid to an all-time low thanks to hostile rhetoric and bellicose military maneuvers in recent years.
The Chinese leadership and its top diplomats have all but dismissed sentiments on the opposite side of the Taiwan Strait. Beijing is at least outwardly confident about its determination—and capability—to bring the island under its rule, in accordance with its own opaque timetable.