US-China Tensions Over Taiwan

Chinese Foreign Minister: Attempts to Use Taiwan to Contain China Doomed to Fail

Nancy Pelosi, the speaker of the US House, arrived in Taiwan earlier on Tuesday. The US administration distanced itself from the visit, claiming that Pelosi makes her own decisions, after being forewarned by the Chinese President Xi Jinping and assuring Beijing of its commitment to the One China policy.
Sputnik
Washington's attempts to use Taiwan to contain China are inevitably doomed to failure, Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi said on Wednesday after Pelosi's Tuesday's surprising visit to the island.
In his remarks, the foreign minister emphasized Beijing's official position that the only guarantee of peaceful coexistence and stability in the Taiwan strait is the "one China" principle, and the three joint communiqués between Washington, Beijing and Taipei solidify this as a fixed status.

"'Relying on the United States to seek independence' is a dead end, and 'using Taiwan to contain China' is doomed to fail," Wang said. "In the face of the national righteousness of national unity, Chinese people have the backbone not to believe in evil, to not be scared by ghosts, have the will to not be intimidated or overwhelmed, have the determination to unite [...], and have the ability to resolutely defend national sovereignty and national dignity."

According to Wang, the US "should not fantasize about playing geopolitical games," with its "provocations" serving only to cause more tensions in the Asia-Pacific region, while acting against the common trend is "very dangerous and stupid."
"The one-China principle has become a basic norm in international relations and constitutes an integral part of the post-World War II international order," he elaborated. "What the US needs to do is to immediately stop violating the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, and immediately stop playing the 'Taiwan card' to disrupt the Asia-Pacific."

No Space for 'Independence'

Wang specifically stressed that China will leave no room for action for pro-Taiwan independence forces.

"We will never leave any space for 'Taiwan independence' separatism or interference from external forces," his statement reads.

The foreign minister asserted that no matter how the US promotes "Taiwan independence", these efforts will be in vain. More to that, such efforts will only add to the "ugly" record of major US interventions in other countries' internal affairs throughout history.
According to Wang, the whole situation with Pelosi proved to Beijing that some US politicians have become "troublemakers" in Chinese-US relations, and the US has become the "biggest destroyer" of peace and regional stability in the Taiwan Strait.
The foreign minister reiterated that Washington shall not succeed in its plans to hinder the unification of China and violate its right to independent development along its own path chosen by the people of the country.
"We place the development of the country and the nation on the basis of our own strength, and are willing to coexist peacefully and develop together with other countries, but we will never allow any country to undermine China's stability and development," Wang underscored, adding that attempts to disrupt the development of the country will invariably lead to bloodshed.
Wang concluded by noting that Washington "should not imagine that black and white can be reversed arbitrarily."

"The US claims that China is escalating the situation, but the most basic fact is that the US first provoked China on the Taiwan issue and blatantly violated China's sovereignty and territorial integrity," he stated. "The US claims that the Speaker's visit to Taiwan has precedent, but the most basic reasoning is that past mistakes cannot be an excuse for repeating [them] today."

On Tuesday, the Russian Foreign Ministry stated that Moscow views Pelosi's visit to Taiwan as an obvious provocation "in the spirit of the US aggressive line on the comprehensive containment of China."
Also, earlier in the day, speaking at the 10th Review Conference on the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons at the United Nations, the director-general of the Chinese Foreign Ministry's arms control department Fu Cong said the US should stop deploying its nuclear weapons in any other parts of the world and withdraw them from Europe entirely.
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