China’s envoy Huang twits Blinken on Pelosi visit spin
CHINESE Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian said Beijing would welcome efforts by Washington to reach out to China and settle their differences in the Taiwan Strait but would treat such gesture with a grain of salt.
“Secretary Blinken claimed that all countries expect China and the US to manage differences responsibly, and the US is determined to do so. If that really happens, it would be a return to the right path. But while we listen to his words, we must also watch the US actions,” Ambassador Huang said in a statement posted on his official Facebook page Saturday night.
Huang was reacting to the statement issued by US State Secretary Antony Blinken during a press conference held after his bilateral meeting with Foreign Affairs Secretary Enrique Manalo in Manila Saturday afternoon.
Huang said the US should first fulfill its One-china Policy commitment by “respecting China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, stop interfering in China’s internal affairs and stop conniving at and supporting ‘Taiwan independence’ separatist forces.”
The Chinese ambassador said Blinken’s remarks during the Manila press conference show the US’ “bullying, highhandedness and hegemony” in the region.
He claimed that since April, China already knew about the planned visit of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan. He said China “repeatedly warned the US through various channels” that such a high-level would have consequences.
“However, the US not only turns a deaf ear to all of those but also covers up and even connives with Pelosi on pursuing the wrong path. How could Pelosi have visited China’s Taiwan region by a US military aircraft without the consent and arrangement of the US government?” Huang said.
By allowing Pelosi to travel to Taiwan, Huang stressed that it is the US and not China that “acted irresponsibly,” as alleged by Blinken. He justified Beijing’s sending of air and naval troops around Taiwan, as a response, is “completely just, legitimate and proportionate.”
“Our countermeasures are necessary as a warning to the provocateurs and as legitimate steps to uphold our sovereignty and security. They are also about staunchly safeguarding regional peace and stability and international law and basic norms governing international relations,” Huang added.
The Chinese envoy also took a swipe at Blinken for saying that China is changing the status quo across the Taiwan Strait. He said Pelosi’s “egregious provocation” started with Taiwan’s ruling Democratic Progressive Party which is promoting “de-sinicization” and “incremental independence” and asking the US for support.
“And the US constantly distorts, obscures and hollows out the onechina principle, playing the socalled “Taiwan card” and trying to use Taiwan to contain China in an attempt to obstruct China’s great cause of reunification and disrupt China’s peaceful development,” he said.
Huang also turned the tables on the US for destabilizing the region.
“At the critical time of fighting Covid-19 and promoting economic recovery in the region, the US is not lending a helping hand. Instead, it is ganging up for confrontation and creating division,” he said.
He said the US has been promoting an Indo-pacific strategy “by strengthening the Five Eyes, peddling the Quad and piecing together AUKUS, all aiming to create small circles to contain China.”
US military vessels and aircraft also visit the region “to flex muscles and create tensions in the South China Sea and Taiwan Strait.”
“The US has messed up many places around the world, and it is now trying to mess up the Asiapacific . . The US has gone to great lengths to hijack the other countries onto their geopolitical chariot and make them its ‘pawns’ in order to maintain the US hegemony to the detriment of the overall and longterm interests of countries in the region,” he added.