New fiery rhetoric from Beijing at a proposal by Taiwan’s opposition party comes amid an ongoing and provocative trip to the region by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo.

US News and World Report
Date: Oct. 7, 2020
By: Paul D. Shinkman, Senior Writer, National Security

CHINA ON WEDNESDAY levied new threats at Taiwan and appears poised to escalate its military efforts to bring to heel what it considers a renegade province, following an attempt by the island nation's opposition party to bring it into closer cooperation with the U.S.

Beijing was already angered by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo's ongoing tour through Asia to shore up support for containing China before the Taiwanese Kuomintang Party, or KMT, on Tuesday launched a new effort for the government there to reestablish diplomatic ties with the U.S.

"The only way forward is for the mainland to fully prepare itself for war and to give Taiwan secessionist forces a decisive punishment at any time," Hu Xijin, editor-in-chief of the Chinese state-sponsored Global Times, wrote in a column Wednesday morning. "As the secessionist forces' arrogance continues to swell, the historical turning point is getting closer."  
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