China's new invasion threat as it warns it is 'ready to use all necessary measures' to retake Taiwan

10 August 2022, 08:32

China has renewed its threat to use military force to bring Taiwan under its control with a warning that it is ready to use "all necessary measures" to retake the island.

A statement issued on Wednesday by the Cabinet's Taiwan Affairs Office and its news department came after almost a week of missile firings and incursions into Taiwanese waters and airspace by Chinese military.

The actions have disrupted flights and shipping in a region crucial to global supply chains, prompting strong condemnation from the US, Japan and others.

An English-language version of the Chinese statement said Beijing would "work with the greatest sincerity and exert our utmost efforts to achieve peaceful reunification".

Read more: Taiwan crisis: Why is it happening and why is China upset?

"But we will not renounce the use of force, and we reserve the option of taking all necessary measures. This is to guard against external interference and all separatist activities," the statement said.

"We will always be ready to respond with the use of force or other necessary means to interference by external forces or radical action by separatist elements. Our ultimate goal is to ensure the prospects of China's peaceful reunification and advance this process."

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China says the threatening moves were prompted by a visit to Taiwan last week by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, but Taiwan says such visits are routine and that China used that merely as a pretext to up its threats.

In an additional response to Ms Pelosi's visit, China said it was cutting off dialogue on issues from maritime security to climate change with the US, Taiwan's chief military and political backer.

Read more: Taiwan scrambles military jets after 27 Chinese warplanes enter air defence zone

Taiwan's foreign minister warned on Tuesday that the Chinese military drills reflect ambitions to control large swaths of the western Pacific, while Taipei conducted its own exercises to underscore its readiness to defend itself.

Taiwan split with the mainland amid civil war in 1949 and the island's 23 million people overwhelmingly oppose political unification with China, while preferring to maintain close economic links and the status quo of de-facto independence.