Beijing: Taiwan Is ‘the Core of China’s Core Interests’

Chinese Defense Minister Wei Fenghe told United States Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin on November 22 that the “Taiwan question” lies at “the core of China’s core interests.”

Taiwan is China’s Taiwan, and the settlement of the Taiwan question is the Chinese people’s own affair and brooks no foreign interference.
—Wei Fenghe, as quoted by China’s state-run Global Times

The remarks follow a similar statement by Chinese General Secretary Xi Jinping during talks last week with U.S. President Joe Biden. The Taiwan matter is “the first red line” that must not be crossed in the U.S.-China relationship, Xi told Biden.

• China claims sovereignty over Taiwan.
• Xi often says he will use military force, if necessary, to bring the self-ruled island under Chinese control.
• America pursues a policy of “strategic ambiguity” regarding its commitment to defend Taiwan in the event that it is attacked.
• The U.S. supports Taiwan and gives it military aid and equipment to deter invasion, but does not directly state whether U.S. forces would assist in the event of war.

With statements about Taiwan being “the core of China’s core interests” and a “red line,” the Chinese are warning American leaders that they must stand down and let China take the island.

The Trumpet said: In 1998, after Bill Clinton became the first American president to cave to Chinese pressure and issue a statement opposing Taiwanese independence, Trumpet editor in chief Gerald Flurry said it meant Taiwan’s days of freedom were numbered. He wrote:

Once again, America has showcased its broken will to the whole world. … How could anyone fail to see that Taiwan is destined to become a part of mainland China? These 21 million people [now 24 million] are going to be forced into the Chinese mold; and it is going to happen for one reason: because of a pitifully weak-willed America.

Mr. Flurry’s understanding of America’s pitifully weak will, and how it will factor into the China-Taiwan dynamic, is based on Bible prophecy. Leviticus 26 records God warning the descendants of Israel—here meaning mainly modern Americans and British—that if they refused to turn to Him, then He would punish them in certain specific ways. One way, described in verse 19, states: “I will break the pride of your power.”

With China growing mightier and more domineering, and with America increasingly divided and tired of policing the world, it is clear that Mr. Flurry’s forecast could soon come to pass.