China warns US it will not tolerate “Taiwanese independence”

China’s Defense Ministry spokesman Tan Kefei said that the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) will resolutely defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity of the country leaving no room for separatist “Taiwan independence” activities of any kind.

At a press conference on Wednesday, Tan accused Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities of. colluding with outside forces to seek secession of the island and to place themselves on the opposite side of the fundamental interests of the Chinese nation.

He also held the United States responsible for provoking tensions in the Straits with its acts of interference and its support for the DPP, the state-run Xinhua news agency reported Wednesday night.

Tan stated that it is justifiable for the PLA to carry out. military operations in response to these threats and warned Washington not to interfere in the Taiwanese issue or improve its relations with the island.

“Taiwan is China and the Taiwanese issue is a purely Chinese internal affair and the core of China’s vital interests,” Tan stressed.

The spokesman urged the U.S. to give up its attempt to use Taiwan to contain China and to cease his “salami tactics,” which consisted of gradually increasing his pressure on Peking.

Tan reiterated that China is firmly opposed to any form of official exchanges or military contact between the United States and Taiwan.

Relations between Beijing and Taipei deteriorated last summer following a visit to the island by then U.S. House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi, who. raised tensions in the strait to peaks unheard of in years.

Taiwan, with which the U.S. country has no official relations, is one of the major sources of conflict between China and the U.S., mainly because Washington is the main supplier of arms to Taiwan and would be its major military ally in the event of a war with the Asian giant.

Beijing claims sovereignty over the island, which has been governed autonomously under the official name of the Republic of China since the Kuomintang nationalists retreated there in 1949 after losing the war against the communist army