China is planning to annex Taiwan “on a much faster timeline” than earlier believed, said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who warned that the country could use force to hasten the reunification process if “peaceful means” don’t work out.
“If peaceful means didn’t work, then it would employ coercive means – and possibly, if coercive means don’t work, maybe forceful means – to achieve its objectives,” Mr Blinken said during an event at Standford University in California. “And that is what is profoundly disrupting the status quo and creating tremendous tensions.”
The statement comes a day after China’s president Xi Jinping refused to rule out the use of force to take over the island state. “Wheels of history are rolling on towards China’s reunification” with Taiwan and “we reserve the option of taking all measures necessary,” Mr Xi had said in his opening remarks on Sunday during the Chinese Communist Party speech.
