Chinese Media Mouthpiece Beats War Drums, Says U.S. Troops in Taiwan Will Be ‘Wiped Out’ if China Invades

© Provided by Mediaite Taiwan

A commentator for the Global Times, a media project of the Chinese Communist Party, issued a threat to the United States on Thursday night, intimating that China would not hesitate to engage U.S. forces stationed in Taiwan if the Chinese launched an invasion of the island nation.

Hu Xijin, formerly the editor-in-chief of the Global Times, reacted to a Wall Street Journal report about U.S. troops traveling to Taiwan by calling it “illegal” and suggesting that the Chinese would treat them as enemy combatants.

“It’s illegal for these US soldiers to go to Taiwan and Chinese mainland won’t take any responsibility for their safety,” tweeted Hu. “If we take military action when necessary, they’ll be wiped out together with the resisting Taiwan troops. They can also be eliminated first as the invading army.”

The U.S. is sending between 100 and 200 troops to join the 30 already stationed there in the next few months, according to the Journal. They will be tasked with training Taiwanese forces in various defense systems and tactics in an effort to prepare the island for a potential Chinese invasion.

Fears that the Chinese will seek to annex Taiwan — which the Chinese Communist Party has never accepted to be an independent entity from the mainland — have proliferated over the last year in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

In a speech before the 20th Party Congress last October, Chinese leader Xi Jinping declared that “solving the Taiwan question and realizing the complete reunification of the Motherland is the unswerving historical task of the Party.” He also said that while China would pursue peaceful reunification, he would not take war off the table.

“We will never promise to renounce the use of force, and we reserve the option of taking all measures necessary,” said Xi, who clarified that his warning was directed at “outside forces” such as the United States as well as the “separatists seeking ‘Taiwan independence.’”

Hu’s comments represent an escalation from  — if not a discontinuation of —  Xi’s rhetoric, and would seem to reflect a continued willingness of Xi’s government to issue direct threats. When then-House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan last July, Hu fantasized about Chinese fighter jets shooting down her plane.

“If the U.S. military sends fighter jets to escort Pelosi to Taiwan, then the move would take the vile nature of such a visit to another level, and would constitute aggression,” said Hu at the time. “Our fighter jets should deploy all obstructive tactics. If those are still ineffective, I think it is okay too to shoot down Pelosi’s plane.”