China renews Taiwan threats, island cites 'wishful thinking'

Beijing: China on Thursday renewed its threat to attack Taiwan following almost a week of war games near the island. Taiwan has called Beijing's claims to the self-governing democracy wishful thinking" and launched its own military exercises.

Taiwan's collusion with external forces to seek independence and provocation will only accelerate their own demise and push Taiwan into the abyss of disaster, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a daily briefing.

Their pursuit of Taiwan independence will never succeed, and any attempt to sell the national interest will be met with a complete failure," Wang told reporters. China's attempt to intimidate the Taiwanese public and advertise its strategy for blockading and potentially invading the island was nominally prompted by a visit to Taipei last week by US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

The US, Japan and allies have denounced the exercises, with the Group of Seven industrialised nations issuing a statement at a recent meeting expressing its concern. On Wednesday, Britain's government summoned Chinese Ambassador Zheng Zeguang to the Foreign Office to demand an explanation of "Beijing's aggressive and wide-ranging escalation against Taiwan.