Ministry dismisses West’s accusations over tensions
China will continue to lodge stern representations with the United States over US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, urging Washington to refrain from conniving with and supporting “Taiwan independence” forces and to stop playing the “Taiwan card” to contain China, the Foreign Ministry said on Monday.
Speaking at a regular news conference, ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin urged the US to immediately redress its wrongdoings, stop deflecting blame and escalating the crisis and take real actions to abide by the one-China principle and the three Sino-US joint communiques.
Wang made the remarks in response to a White House spokeswoman’s accusation of China changing the status quo across the Taiwan Straits. He said that it was the US that undertook the provocative acts to change the status quo and heighten the tensions across the Taiwan Straits.
It is completely “gangster logic” for the US to accuse China of escalating tensions while it goes further down the wrong path of violating the one-China principle, Wang said.
China has taken countermeasures in response to Pelosi’s visit, including military drills and sanctions.
The spokesman defended China’s countermeasures, saying that they are necessary acts to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity as well as upholding the basic norms of international relations and the international order established after World War II.
Wang also expressed China’s firm opposition to a joint statement released on Friday by the US, Japan and Australia that called on Beijing to stop military exercises around the island.
In the statement, the three countries added the so-called “where applicable” after the one-China policy. A Taiwan-related statement issued by the G7 last week also took a similar approach.
Certain countries add various preconditions to the one-China principle, trying to distort and hollow out the principle, Wang said, adding that the attempt to challenge the oneChina principle is doomed to fail.
Wang stressed that the meaning of the one-China principle is clear and definite. That principle is that there is only one China in the world, Taiwan is a part of China and the government of the People’s Republic of China is the sole legal government representing the whole of China.
“The application of the oneChina principle is universal, unconditional and indubitable,” he added.
Over 170 countries have reiterated their commitment to the oneChina principle and strong support for China’s legitimate positions, constituting an advantage over the US and the handful of its supporters, he said.
In response to Pelosi’s visit, the People’s Liberation Army’s Eastern Theater Command on Monday continued to conduct combat training exercises around Taiwan, the command said in a statement.
China’s countermeasures to Pelosi’s visit are “fully reasonable, appropriate and moderate” and serve as a necessary warning to the provocations from the US and the Taiwan region, said Senior Colonel Wu Qian, a spokesman for the Ministry of National Defense.
Wu emphasized that “the bottom line cannot be breached and the communication needs sincerity”, expressing firm opposition to the US side for creating a crisis, seeking a pretext for its provocations and misleading public opinion.
Wu urged the US to respect China’s core interests and major concerns and “give up the illusion of containing China by using Taiwan”.
The United States was repeatedly warned that there would be serious consequences if House of Representatives Speaker Nancy Pelosi visited Taiwan.
But defying all the disapproval and the urgings from all corners of the world that she abandon her provocative plan, including the message from the White House that it was thought not to be a good idea, she arrived in Taipei anyway on Aug 2.
It is clear to all that her visit was intended to be a significant and provocative show of support for the secession-desiring Tsai Ing-wen administration on the island. The Democratic Progressive Party has written the pursuit of independence into its party program. Beijing is therefore fully justified in responding in a way that ensures the separatists know the risks they are running in trying to edge the island toward “independence”.
The live-fire drills the People’s Liberation Army is conducting around Taiwan are meant primarily as a deterrent against the separatist forces on the island. But they are also meant to ensure that not just Washington, but all “external forces” are aware of the serious consequences of meddling in the Taiwan question, which is purely an internal affair of China.
Pelosi’s trip once again demonstrated that it is China hawks in Washington that are the source of the greatest trouble in the region and therefore the gravest threat to regional peace and stability. They are not only maliciously infringing on China’s sovereignty by playing the “Taiwan card” but also violating the US’ international obligations. The US’ ugly record of meddling in other countries’ internal affairs is littered with such hubristic provocations.
Beijing has thus announced eight measures tailored specifically for Washington, which are intended to drive home the message that playing the “Taiwan card” brews real dangers.
Three of the measures are cancellations of military-to-military talks. The other five are the suspension of cooperation in areas such as climate change and transnational crimes where China and the US have been working together.
The US is used to creating a problem first, and then using it to realize its own strategic aims. Despite the Joe Biden administration’s claims that it couldn’t stop Pelosi’s visit, the US has clearly taken the opportunity, whether planned or not, to try and mess up the regional security landscape.
As State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said, “This is very dangerous and stupid”. No matter how the US supports or connives with the Taiwan separatist forces, it will be in vain. Nor should it pin its hopes on countries in the region joining it in provoking trouble over the Taiwan question, because peace, stability, development and win-win cooperation are the common aspirations of regional countries.
As Wang assured his hosts during his recent visits to Southeast Asian nations, while making justified, reasonable, legal and measured responses to counter Washington’s attempts to play the “Taiwan card”, Beijing is making every effort to preserve regional peace and stability. So while inflicting pain on the violators, Beijing has also shown that it wants to neither upend the China-US relationship, nor disrupt the regional security landscape.