China Army Says Will Tighten 'Noose' Around Taiwan if Separatism Escalates

(FILES) People walk past a Taiwanese flag in New Taipei City on January 13, 2024. (Photo by Sam Yeh / AFP)
(FILES) People walk past a Taiwanese flag in New Taipei City on January 13, 2024. (Photo by Sam Yeh / AFP)
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China Army Says Will Tighten 'Noose' Around Taiwan if Separatism Escalates

(FILES) People walk past a Taiwanese flag in New Taipei City on January 13, 2024. (Photo by Sam Yeh / AFP)
(FILES) People walk past a Taiwanese flag in New Taipei City on January 13, 2024. (Photo by Sam Yeh / AFP)

China's military vowed Sunday to tighten its "noose" around Taiwan if separatism on the island escalated, warning independence proponents to step back from the "precipice".

Beijing considers the self-ruled island of Taiwan to be part of its territory and has not ruled out using military force to claim it.

China has increased pressure on Taiwan's authorities in recent years with military drills and frequent dispatches of fighter jets and naval vessels around the island.

"The more rampant 'Taiwan independence' separatists become, the tighter the noose around their necks and the sharper the sword hanging over their heads will be," army spokesman Wu Qian said in an interview published by state broadcaster CCTV.

"The PLA is a force of action in countering separatism and promoting reunification," said Wu, using an acronym for China's military.

"You've ridden your steed to a precipice of a cliff, but behind you lies land -- if you persist in taking the wrong course, you will meet a dead end," he warned, according to AFP.

The comments, made during China's "Two Sessions" annual political gathering, come days after Beijing announced a 7.2 percent increase to its defense budget in 2025.

The increase, the same percentage as in 2024, will drive the rapid modernization of China's armed forces as strategic competition with the United States intensifies.

It is above the government's annual GDP growth target of around five percent.

Calling the increase "limited... reasonable and stable", Wu said the extra cash would be used to develop "combat forces in new fields and with new qualities", and to enhance reconnaissance, joint strike and battlefield support capabilities.

- Second to the US -

China's military spending has been on the rise for decades, broadly in line with economic growth.

The country has the world's second-largest defense budget, but lags well behind the United States, its primary strategic rival.

Beijing's 1.78-trillion-yuan ($245.7-billion) budget for this year is still less than a third of Washington's.

Military spending last year made up 1.6 percent of its GDP, far less than the United States or Russia, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

But its defense expansion is viewed with suspicion by Washington, as well as other powers in the region.

China has increasingly flexed its muscles in the region, including in the South China Sea, which it claims almost entirely despite an international arbitration ruling that declared its stance baseless.

China describes its military stance as "defensive" and aimed at preserving its sovereignty.

China faces "one of the most complex neighboring security situations in the world", army spokesman Wu said, adding that it had to deal with "severe challenges" in defending its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

But its sweeping territorial claims over areas controlled by other governments have raised fears of a regional clash.

Taiwan is a potential flashpoint for a war between China and the United States, which is the island's most important backer and biggest arms supplier.

On Friday, China's Foreign Minister Wang Yi told a press conference that Taiwan coming under China's control was the "shared hope of all Chinese people, the general trend of the time, and a righteous cause".

"Using Taiwan to control China is just like trying to stop a car with the arm of a mantis," he said.

Last month, Taiwan's Ministry of Defense condemned China for holding "live-fire" exercises to the island's south. Beijing defended the drills as "routine".



Israel Far-Right Issues Rare Rebuke of Settler Attack on Army

Israeli settlers carrying weapons during clashes in which Palestinians were attacked in the town of Huwara in the West Bank. (Getty Images/AFP file)
Israeli settlers carrying weapons during clashes in which Palestinians were attacked in the town of Huwara in the West Bank. (Getty Images/AFP file)
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Israel Far-Right Issues Rare Rebuke of Settler Attack on Army

Israeli settlers carrying weapons during clashes in which Palestinians were attacked in the town of Huwara in the West Bank. (Getty Images/AFP file)
Israeli settlers carrying weapons during clashes in which Palestinians were attacked in the town of Huwara in the West Bank. (Getty Images/AFP file)

An assault by Israeli settlers on soldiers in the occupied West Bank drew condemnation from across the political spectrum, including an unusual rebuke from far-right ministers who typically support the settlement movement.

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, considered the two most hardline members of the ruling coalition, called for the perpetrators to be held accountable.

The army said dozens of "civilians" attacked its forces on Sunday night at a military base in the central West Bank, vandalizing army vehicles and a security installation.

According to Israeli media, the attackers were settlers who targeted the commander of the military's Binyamin Regional Brigade, calling him a "traitor".

The attack was widely seen as a reprisal for the arrest of six settlers two days earlier.

In that incident, the commander and troops were attacked as they tried to stop settlers entering a closed military zone near the Palestinian village of Kafr Malik.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned both attacks, saying "no law-abiding country can tolerate acts of violence and anarchy".

Ben-Gvir was among the last senior figures to react.

"Harming our security forces, security installations and the soldiers who are our children, brothers and defenders, crosses a red line, and must be treated with the utmost severity," he wrote on X.

A lawyer, Ben-Gvir gained a name for himself before entering politics by defending in court several settlers accused of attacking Palestinians in the West Bank.

Smotrich wrote on X: "Violence against (Israeli) soldiers and our beloved police forces and the destruction of property are unacceptable."

- West Bank violence -

Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and violence has surged there since Israel launched its offensive in Gaza following Hamas's October 2023 attack.

Since then, Israeli troops or settlers in the West Bank have killed at least 947 Palestinians -- many of them militants, but also scores of civilians -- according to Palestinian health ministry figures.

At least 35 Israelis, including both civilians and security forces, have been killed in Palestinian attacks or Israeli military operations, according to Israeli official figures.

But settler attacks on army positions are rare.

"It was too much, even for the far-right," said Simon Perry, a security expert and associate professor in the criminology department at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

"The rioters went overboard," he told AFP.

Nimrod Goren, an expert on foreign relations and a veteran commentator on Israeli politics, said the far-right's outrage at the assault was merely "lip service", however.

Violent assaults by Israeli settlers against Palestinians have become common since 2023, without drawing any criticism from the political class, he noted.

"But when soldiers are affected, all of a sudden people are alerted," said Goren, who is chairman of the Israeli foreign policy think tank Mitvim.

- Settlers' eviction drive -

According to the two Israeli experts, the rioters were part of an informal movement known as the hilltop youth, whose goal is to evict Palestinian residents and establish settlements in the West Bank without government approval.

The movement constitutes a fringe, even among the Religious Zionist movement, the ideological backbone of the settlement enterprise.

Several human rights NGOs have denounced the rise in violence committed by the settlers, and their perceived impunity.

Shortly after his appointment in November 2024, Defense Minister Israel Katz announced an end to administrative detention for West Bank settlers, a practice that allows security forces to detain suspects without charge.

Israeli media say the move emboldened extremist settlers and led to a wave of attacks in the Palestinian territory.

On Tuesday, the Israeli press reported that Katz would not bring it back, contrary to the opinion of Israel's Shin Bet security service.

The measure is still in place for Palestinians.

The recent settler violence against army positions in the West Bank even prompted condemnation from leaders within the movement.

"Those who wish to protest must act according to the law and not confront the army," Oded Revivi, a former mayor of the Efrat settlement, and a prominent settler figure, told AFP.

There are around 160 Israeli settlements scattered throughout the West Bank, which the UN considers illegal. Their residents number about 500,000, living among a population of three million Palestinians.