BEIJING/TAIPEI: China will not promise to renounce the use of force over Taiwan but this is aimed at external interference and a small minority of separatists, China’s Taiwan Affairs Office said on Wednesday following the country’s latest war games around the island.
China, which views democratically governed Taiwan as its own territory, staged a day of large-scale drills around the island on Monday it said were a warning to “separatist acts” following last week’s national day speech by Taiwan President Lai Ching-te.
“We are willing to strive for the prospect of peaceful reunification with the utmost sincerity and endeavor,” Chen Binhua, spokesperson for China’s Taiwan Affairs Office, told a regular press briefing in Beijing.
“But we will never commit ourselves to renouncing the use of force,” he said.
That is, however, aimed at the interference of “external forces” — a reference to the United States and its allies — and the very small number of Taiwan separatists, not the vast majority of Taiwan’s people, Chen said.
“No matter how many troops Taiwan has and how many weapons it acquires, and no matter whether external forces intervene or not, if it (Taiwan) dares to take risks, it will lead to its own destruction,” he added.
“Our actions to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity will not cease for a moment.”
Taiwan’s government rejects Beijing’s sovereignty claims, saying only the island’s people can decide their future.
Speaking to reporters in Taipei earlier on Wednesday, Taiwan National Security Bureau Director-General Tsai Ming-yen said China’s drills had backfired given the international condemnation they generated, especially from Washington.
“The Chinese communists’ military exercise has created a negative effect in that it made the international community more supportive of Taiwan,” he said.
Lai, in his Oct. 10 speech, said China has no right to represent Taiwan, but the island was willing to work with Beijing to combat challenges like climate change, striking both a firm and a conciliatory tone which Taiwan officials said was a show of goodwill toward Beijing.
Chen, the Chinese spokesperson, said Lai had stuck to his “stubborn separatist position.”
“There was no goodwill to speak of,” he added.
Lai has repeatedly offered talks with China but been rebuffed.
China’s military on Monday held open the possibility of more drills around Taiwan depending on the level of “provocation.”
Tsai said the government remained on alert for further military actions.
“We cannot rule out any possibilities,” he added.
China has over the past five years sent warships and warplanes in the waters and skies around Taiwan on an almost daily basis.
On Wednesday morning, in its daily update of Chinese activities in the previous 24 hours, Taiwan’s defense ministry said it had detected 22 Chinese military aircraft and five navy ships.
The defeated Republic of China government fled to Taiwan in 1949 after losing a civil war with Mao Zedong’s communists. No armistice or peace treaty has ever been signed.

CAPE TOWN, South Africa: Months of drought in southern Africa triggered by the El Niño weather phenomenon have had a devastating impact on more than 27 million people and caused the region’s worst hunger crisis in decades, the United Nations’ food agency said Tuesday.
The World Food Program warned it could become a “full-scale human catastrophe.”
Five countries — Lesotho, Malawi, Namibia, Zambia and Zimbabwe — have declared national disasters over the drought and resultant hunger. The WFP estimates that about 21 million children in southern Africa are now malnourished as crops have failed.
Tens of millions in the region rely on small-scale agriculture that is irrigated by rain for their food and to make money to buy provisions. Aid agencies warned of a potential disaster late last year as the naturally occurring El Niño led to below-average rainfall across the region, while its impact has been exacerbated by warming temperatures linked to climate change.
“This is the worst food crisis in decades,” WFP spokesperson Tomson Phiri said. “October in southern Africa marks the start of the lean season, and each month is expected to be worse than the previous one until harvests next year in March and April. Crops have failed, livestock have perished and children are lucky to receive one meal per day.”
The five countries that declared drought-related disasters have pleaded for international aid, while Angola on the west coast of Africa and Mozambique on the east coast are also “severely affected,” Phiri said, showing the extent to which the drought has swept across the region.
“The situation is dire,” Phiri said. He said the WFP needs around $369 million to provide immediate help but has only received a fifth of that amid a shortfall in donations. The WFP has begun helping with food assistance and other critical support at the request of various governments in the region, he said.
Phiri said southern Africa’s crisis came at a time of “soaring global needs,” with humanitarian aid also desperately required in Gaza, Sudan and elsewhere.
Other aid agencies have said the drought in southern Africa is especially harsh, with the United States aid agency, USAID, saying in June it was the most severe drought in 100 years during the January to March agricultural season, wiping out swathes of crops and food for millions.
El Niño, a weather phenomenon which warms parts of the central Pacific, has different impacts on weather in different parts of the world. The latest El Niño formed in the middle of last year and ended in June. It was blamed, along with human-caused climate change and overall ocean warmth, for a wild 12 months of heat waves and extreme weather.
In southern Africa, food prices have risen sharply in many areas affected by the drought, increasing the hardship. The drought has also had other damaging effects.
Zambia has lost much of its electricity and has been plunged into hours and sometimes days of blackouts because it relies heavily on hydroelectric power from the huge Kariba Dam. The water level of the dam is so low that it can hardly generate any power. Zimbabwe shares the dam and is also experiencing power outages.
Authorities in Namibia and Zimbabwe have resorted to killing wildlife, including elephants, to provide meat for hungry people.
Scientists say sub-Saharan Africa is one of the most vulnerable parts of the world to climate change because of a high dependency on rain-fed agriculture and natural resources. Millions of African livelihoods depend on the climate, while poor countries are unable to finance climate-resilience measures.