Vessels in the Taiwan Straits, July 20, 2017. /CGTN Photo

Various US officials have reiterated that the US commitment to the island of Taiwan is "rock solid" and condemned the Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA)'s drills in the Taiwan Straits region as "destabilizing and only increase the risk of miscalculation." The collusion between the US and the island is also increasing. Recently, the commander of the army on the island of Taiwan visited the US, while US Undersecretary of State Jose Fernandez Tuesday held a meeting with Hsiao Bi-khim, Taiwan's representative in the US.

"Rock solid" is an expression that can deceive and appease radical forces in the island of Taiwan, but can never deter the Chinese mainland. The mainland will resolutely continue strengthening its military preparation to gain decisive and overwhelming leverage to finally resolve the Taiwan question.

The island's society must be warned that they better not believe the "rock solid" promise of the US, because Washington will never fight to the death with the Chinese mainland for the island's secession. All it is doing now is playing geopolitical tricks. The US aims to create the greatest obstruction to China's rise by playing the "Taiwan card," but this card is not the life-or-death one the US will defend regardless of costs and lives. The US' own interests are always the starting point for the country's Taiwan Straits policies.

However, the Chinese mainland is determined to defend national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and to realize national reunification. Over these issues, we dare fight to death against anyone who challenges and obstructs us. If the obstruction is little, the reunification of the sides of the Straits is to be accomplished; otherwise, we will meet and defeat those obstructing forces. For the mainland, there never is a binary choice that we will realize reunification when it's easy and give up when it's difficult.

Any wise person can understand that the resolve and will of China and the US regarding the cross-Straits situation are of completely different degrees. In the past, the two countries were more engaged in all types of cooperation. They needed to seek more common ground in terms of the Taiwan Straits policies. In addition, during the eight years of the Kuomintang's rule, the Chinese mainland and the island of Taiwan were in relatively good terms. Thus, differences between Beijing and Washington over the island didn't radically clash. But now, since the US' China policy has drastically changed, with the Taiwan question becoming the most prominent point of confrontation, the clash of wills between China and the US is becoming more and more inevitable.

Let's put it frankly: The US has lost its strength to make "rock solid" commitments to Taiwan. The Taiwan Straits and the area nearby are within the effective strike range of the PLA, which is prepared and strong enough to resist outside military interference when the Chinese mainland is determined to solve the Taiwan question. The US sending naval and air forces to defend Taiwan would be a death blow to US soldiers. Plus, China is a nuclear power with second-strike capabilities with intercontinental range ballistic missiles DF-41 and JL-3. And such a reality will contain the US' evil thoughts about taking risks to use nuclear weapons. In short, the US is no longer the country that can exercise military blackmail against China.

The island's Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) authorities should not misjudge the situation. It must have a clear head that Washington cannot afford to protect Taiwan. It bigotedly thinks that the US will never abandon the island of Taiwan and fight with  the island to deter the mainland. This is nothing but an illusion. Once the mainland makes the political decision to solve the Taiwan question by force, people will see a modern version of the liberation of Nanjing during China's War of Liberation (1946-49). At that point, abandoning Taiwan will be the US' inevitable choice.

The US and the Taiwan island should stop trying to frighten the Chinese mainland that reunification by force will trigger serious political and economic consequences. In recent years, the US has already shown what those consequences will be like with its all-round containment against China. All Chinese people have seen them, and the deterrent effect will be zero.

Tensions in the Taiwan Straits are escalating, and the root cause is that the DPP authorities have abandoned the 1992 Consensus. The US hasn't pressured the DPP to retake the consensus. Instead, Washington has taken advantage of the DPP's risky moves to prompt the danger mode in the Taiwan Straits in a bid to strategically contain and weaken the mainland. As a result, the cross-Straits situation is being pushed toward a showdown. 

The Chinese mainland is determined to bring down the DPP authorities' arrogance. It is also determined to smash the US' so-called "rock solid" commitment with its iron will. China will not give up efforts for a peaceful solution to the Taiwan question, but reunification must be the end of such a peaceful solution, rather than "two Chinas" or "one China and one Taiwan." Those who split China will never find a peaceful path to their goal.