In what could be read as either a warning or a threat, China’s ambassador to the United States said Thursday there will be “military conflict” between the U.S. and China should the island nation of Taiwan attempt to become fully independent from Xi Jinping’s communist regime.

In an interview with NPR, ambassador Qin Gang asserted that Taiwan is “walking down the road toward independence” and said, “If the Taiwanese authorities, emboldened by the United States, keep going down the road for independence, it most likely will involve China and the United States, the two big countries, in a military conflict.”