A Chinese newspaper is calling on the country to consider force as a means to conquer Taiwan, following an apparent shift in U.S. policy.
The Global Times, considered a provocative mouthpiece for Beijing, penned an editorial column on Wednesday which suggested it was time China took a less passive approach.
"It might be time for the Chinese mainland to reformulate its Taiwan policy, make the use of force as a main option and carefully prepare for it," it read.
Beijing has enforced a One-China policy whereby countries seeking diplomatic relations with the mainland China must break any official relations with Taiwan.
U.S. President-elect Donald Trump has questioned this stance and following his election victory spoke directly with Taiwan's president, the first such contact since 1979.
The call enraged China and the Global Times said relations between Washington and Beijing could soon be set for further strain.
It appears matters were further inflamed after former Speaker Newt Gingrich said the U.S. will not sit back and watch China use force to conquer Taiwan, according to the Global Times.
"Time will tell after Trump's team takes over the US, whether it will willfully utilize the one-China policy as leverage to blackmail Beijing or restrain itself in actual practice.
"In any case, the current farce has made China vigilant," the editorial read.
Taiwan is an island nation situated roughly 100 miles east of China. It has been the subject of political ambiguity ever since China gave up control of the island to the Japanese in 1895.
In 1945, Japan relinquished that control but supporters of Taiwanese independence say there was no treaty ever signed to return the island to Chinese sovereignty.
China has in recent years softened its tone on relations with Taiwan but that changed abruptly earlier this year after the election victory in Taiwan of President Tsai Ing-wen.
The female president and member of the Democratic Progressive party (DPP) is seen as heavily in favor of protecting Taiwanese sovereignty.
The Global Times column argued that "the future of Taiwan must not be shaped by the DPP and Washington".
And it signed off with a threatening flourish, reminiscent of communist revolutionary Chairman Mao.
"The Chinese mainland should display its resolution to recover Taiwan by force. Peace does not belong to cowards."