SINGAPORE — Not long before U.S. President Barack Obama held his low-key meeting in the White House with the exiled Tibetan leader last month, the Dalai Lama, a Chinese Embassy spokesman in Washington issued a statement on the talks and the U.S. decision to provide a new package of defensive arms to Taiwan.
"China's positions on issues like arms sales to Taiwan, and Tibet, have been consistent and clear," Wang Baodong said, "as these issues bear on sovereignty and territorial integrity, which are close to Chinese core national interests."
He was echoing top Chinese leaders who refer to keeping Tibet, Xinjiang, Macau and Hong Kong as part of China, and the recovery of Taiwan, as "core" sovereignty interests. What Beijing means by this and similar phases asserting national integrity is that such interests are vital, cannot be compromised, and will be protected at all costs — by force if necessary.