Top Chinese Military Official Sets the Tone for This Year’s Xiangshan Forum

Zhang Youxia, the vice chairman of China’s Central Military Commission opened this year’s Beijing Xiangshan Forum with a note of warning. Zhang said that in the face of a world intertwined with events, all countries share weal and woe and share risks. Countries must adhere to win-win cooperation and symbiosis to promote lasting peace, respect each other’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, respect each other’s core interests and major concerns, respect the development path and social system independently chosen by the people of each country, pay attention to and accommodate the legitimate concerns of all countries, and insist on adopting policies of resolving differences through dialogue and consultation. Countries should not impose their will on others, place their own interests above others, base their own security on the insecurity of others, let alone deliberately provoke other countries on major and sensitive issues. Zhang underlined that the Taiwan issue is at the core of China’s core interests. The one-China principle is the general consensus of the international community. “No matter who tries to split Taiwan from China in any form, China and the Chinese military will never allow that to happen.”