China’s military has vowed to tighten its ‘noose’ around Taiwan if separatism on the island escalates and warned independence advocates to step back from the ‘precipice’.
Beijing considers the self-governed island as part of its own territory and has not ruled out utilising military force to claim it.
Taiwan’s authorities have received increasing pressure from China in recent years by way of military drills and persistent dispatch of fighter jets and naval vessels around the island.
The comment came yesterday during China’s ‘Two Sessions’ annual political gathering in which Chinese army spokesman Wu Qian gave an interview to state broadcaster CCTV.
He said: ‘The more rampant Taiwan independence’ separatists become, the tighter the noose around their necks and the sharper the sword hanging over their heads will be.
‘The PLA [People’s Liberation Army] is a force of action in countering separatism and promoting reunification.
‘You’ve ridden your steed to a precipice of a cliff, but behind you lies land – if you persist in taking the wrong course, you will meet a dead end.’
The stern comment comes just days after Beijing announced a 7.2 per cent increase to its 2025 defence budget – the same percentage as in 2024.
Deputies from the Chinese Military walking together as they arrived at the second plenary session of the National Peoples Congress, or NPC, at the Great Hall of the People on March 8, 2025 in Beijing, China
The comment came yesterday during China’s ‘Two Sessions’ annual political gathering in which Chinese army spokesman Wu Qian (pictured) gave an interview to state broadcaster CCTV
Taiwanese military helicopters fly above Taipei city, as worries over the future of the self-run island deepen
The budget increase, which Mr Qian called ‘limited, reasonable and stable’, will propel the rapid modernisation of China’s military as strategic competition with the US ramps up.
It is above the government’s annual GDP growth target of around 5 per cent.
Mr Qian said the extra money would be used to develop ‘combat forces in new fields and with new qualities’, and to enhance reconnaissance, joint strike and battlefield support capabilities.
China’s military spending has been rising for decades, generally in line with economic growth.
They have the second largest defence budget in the world, with a budget of 1.78trillion yuan (£190.7billion) for 2025.
But this is less than a third of the US, its main strategic competitor.
Military spending in 2024 made up 1.6 per cent of its GDP, much less than the US or Russia, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
However, Washington and other powers in the region are suspicious of the country’s defence expansion.
Taiwanese soldiers in live-ammunition artillery training along the island’s China-facing western coast in August 2024
US President Donald Trump and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping pictured together in 2019
China has increasingly demonstrated their potential power, including the cutting of an undersea communications cable, and live-fire shooting drills involving dozens of Chinese warplanes off the island’s coast last week.
The country describes its military stance as ‘defensive’ and claims it is aimed at protecting sovereignty.
Mr Qian said China faces ‘one of the most complex neighbouring security situations in the world’, and added that it had to deal with ‘severe challenges’ in defending its sovereignty and territorial integrity.
The territory disagreements and latest sweeping claims over Taiwan could be a potential catalyst for a war between China and the US, which is the island’s most vital backer and largest arms supplier.
Many see the South China Sea as the world’s most dangerous flashpoint, where fighting could quickly spiral into a nuclear face-off between Washington and Beijing.
A shocking report released last week on China’s recent diplomatic gains on the world stage suggest a full-blown assault on Taiwan by its mighty neighbour could come faster than they imagined.
Researchers at Australia’s have shown that the number of governments that support China’s bid to ‘reunify’ with Taiwan, including through military means, has jumped to 89 in recent months.
Fighting over Taiwan could quickly spiral into a nuclear face-off between Washington and Beijing
That amounts to nearly half the membership of the United Nations, a testament to China’s prowess at using its Belt and Road investment scheme to enlist cheerleaders, especially among developing nations in the global south.
The report comes amid deepening divisions between the western countries that have long advocated for Taiwan’s self-rule, as President Donald Trump’s government pulls back from its European allies.
Analysts increasingly question whether US President Trump would defend Taiwan from any Chinese assault, or trade away the self-governing island’s autonomy in a grand bargain with Beijing.
They cite Trump’s willingness to reverse decades of US foreign policy, by pulling support for Ukraine and vaunting a peace deal that could cement Russia’s land grab from its smaller neighbour.
