Washington, Jan 29 : Washington’s support for Taiwan’s aspirations for independence might pose a threat of a military conflict between the United States and China, the country’s ambassador to the US Qin Gang said. “If, you know the Taiwanese authorities, emboldened by the United States, you know, keep going down the road for independence, it most likely will involve China and the United States, the two big countries, in the military conflict,” the ambassador told the US radio station NPR on Friday.
The spokeswoman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of China’s State Council, Zhu Fenglian, said Friday that Beijing urges the US to “stop to play with fire,” when talking about the Taiwanese issue. Taiwan has been governed independently from mainland China since 1949. Beijing views the island as its province, while Taiwan, which is a territory with its own democratically-elected government, maintains that it is an autonomous country but stops short of declaring independence.
