China won’t be bullied by United States, defence minister says

TIL Desk/World/Beijing/ China’s Defence Minister has issued a stern rebuke to the United States amid the ongoing trade war and tension over the South China Sea and Taiwan, saying his country would “not let others prey on or divide us.”

General Wei Fenghe told delegates at the Shangri-La Dialogue in Singapore on Sunday that Beijing would not yield an inch of territory — and any foreign interference was doomed to failure.

He specifically called out the US and its Taiwan Relations Act, the 1979 law which permits Washington to provide defence weapons to the Taipei government and help defend the island from invasion.

China considers Taiwan a renegade province. The two separated at the end of a bloody civil war in 1949 and the US only has official diplomatic relations with Beijing. “How can the US enact a law to interfere in China’s internal affairs? Is there any sense in that?” Wei asked.