FM: China to firmly guard sovereignty

Beijing’s measures in response to Pelosi’s Taiwan trip ‘strong and proportionate’, Wang says

United States House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s provocative visit to Taiwan last week has heightened tensions in regard to China-US ties and crossStraits relations, as Beijing hit back with strong countermeasures in response to her “reckless and irresponsible” move.

Speaking to international media on Aug 5, State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi said China’s position is “legitimate, reasonable and lawful” and its measures are “resolute, strong and proportionate”.

“We will firmly safeguard China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, resolutely deter the US from using Taiwan to contain China, and resolutely shatter the Taiwan authorities’ illusion of seeking independence by relying on US support,” he said at a news conference after attending the “ASEAN-plus” foreign ministers’ meetings in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

“Meanwhile, we are also upholding international law and the basic norms governing international relations, especially the norm of noninterference … as stipulated in the United Nations Charter.”

Wang stressed that if the principle of non-interference in the internal affairs of sovereign states is ignored or abandoned, the world will be dragged back to the law of the jungle, and the US will become even more unscrupulous in bullying other countries from its so-called “position of strength.”

“We must not allow such things to happen, and all other countries should stand in unity to stop such things from happening and not allow human civilization to regress,” he said.

That is why more than 100 countries have publicly stood up and reaffirmed their firm adherence to the one-China policy and their understanding of and support for China’s legitimate position, Wang added.

Historically, Taiwan is part of China. It was separated from the mainland due to the civil war in the 1940s. UN General Assembly Resolution 2758, adopted in October 1971, recognized the People’s Republic of China as the only legitimate representative of China in the United Nations.

In the past four decades and more since China and the US established diplomatic ties, their relations have generally maintained stable development based on the three Sino-US joint communiques, in which the US committed to the principles that “there is but one China and Taiwan is part of China”, and that it will not develop official ties with the Taiwan region.

However, in recent years, the US has been distorting, altering, obscuring and hollowing out the oneChina principle, has used all means of playing the “Taiwan card” to contain China, and has sought to upgrade exchanges with the island, intensify arms sales to Taiwan and embolden “Taiwan independence” separatist activities.

Regional security

Earlier, on Aug 4, Wang said that if China does not resolutely resist the “manic, irresponsible and highly irrational” act of the US side, the principle of international relations on respecting sovereignty and territorial integrity will become empty words.

What China has done and will do are necessary and timely countermeasures that aim to warn against provocateurs and also protect regional stability and peace across the Taiwan Straits, he said.

China’s countermeasures include staging military drills near Taiwan, conducting large-scale air and naval activities, punishing organizations related to die-hard “Taiwan independence” elements, and suspending natural sand exports to Taiwan, as well as the imports of some farm produce from the island.

On Aug 8, in an interview with the media, including China Daily, about the Taiwan Straits situation, ViceForeign Minister Ma Zhaoxu said the Chinese people “are not to be misled by fallacies or scared by evils, and will never waver in defending our core interests”.

Washington has recently warned that it will be forced to respond if China continues to take more countermeasures against the visit to Taiwan by Pelosi.

In response, Ma said, “We want to stress to the US: Do not act recklessly, and stop going further down this doomed path.”

He urged Washington to “do the right thing and take concrete steps to facilitate the steady development of China-US relations”.

On Aug 5, Beijing announced its decision to cancel three cooperative dialogues or meetings with the US in the field of defense and suspended two-way judicial cooperation in areas such as illegal immigration, crossborder crimes and narcotics, as well as bilateral consultation on climate change.

Washington claimed that the decision does not punish the US but the whole world, to which Ma responded that “the US cannot represent the whole world”.

When asked about the “concern” expressed in a joint statement by the G7 and the European Union on the situation, Ma said, “Compared with over 170 countries (that have expressed support for China), what do the G7 think they are? Who cares what they say?”

Challenging the US claim that China’s military drills in recent days have flared tension, Ma said it is the US “that is threatening peace and stability in the Taiwan Straits”.

The US and its allies often come to the waters near China flexing their muscles and stirring up trouble, and conducted up to 100 military exercises each year, Ma added. “They, instead of someone else, are the ones that overreact and escalate the situation.”

Ma also stressed that “there is no such thing as a median line in the Straits”. “The Chinese armed forces conduct military exercises in waters off China’s Taiwan island to safeguard the sovereignty and territorial integrity of China. Our measures are open and proportionate,” he said.

As part of Washington’s backpedaling on its commitment to the three China-US communiques, US arms sales to Taiwan have witnessed consistent expansion, totaling more than $70 billion, Foreign Ministry spokesman Wang Wenbin said on Aug 9.

The administration of US President Joe Biden alone has sold more than $1.1 billion worth of arms to Taiwan.

On Aug 4, State Councilor Wang canceled a scheduled meeting with Japanese Foreign Minister Hayashi Yoshimasa on the sidelines of the ASEAN events in Cambodia.

The cancellation came after Yoshimasa, with other foreign ministers of the Group of Seven nations and the high representative of the European Union, issued a joint statement about Taiwan, groundlessly accusing China of escalating tensions across the Taiwan Straits.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Hua Chunying said at a news conference on Aug 4 that tensions across the Taiwan Straits are fundamentally caused by Washington’s connivance on Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan.

The Chinese government is justified and has the right to do whatever is necessary to respond to such a major incident, she said.

In a statement issued on Aug 3, a spokesperson for the Chinese Mission to the EU also refuted the joint statement, saying the measures adopted by China to safeguard sovereignty and territorial integrity are absolutely necessary and very appropriate.

One-China principle

Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said on Aug 4 that the measures China has taken to safeguard its sovereignty, security and development interests are justified, legitimate and reasonable.

In response to Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres reiterated the UN’s support for the one-China principle.

“We abide by General Assembly resolutions, by the one-China policy, and that is the orientation that we have in everything we do,” Guterres said on Aug 3.

The international community has also voiced its support for the oneChina principle and for China to take all necessary measures to safeguard its sovereignty and territorial integrity.

In a joint statement issued on Aug 3, foreign ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations reiterated ASEAN member states’ support for the one-China principle.

Cambodian Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Prak Sokhonn said that recent US provocations violated China’s sovereignty and aggravated cross-Straits tensions.

He said that Cambodia firmly adheres to the one-China policy and that his country supports China in safeguarding its legitimate rights and resolutely responding to the US provocations.

Lao Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Saleumxay Kommasith said his nation is opposed to any attempt to create “two Chinas” or “one China, one Taiwan”.

Greek Foreign Minister Nikos Dendias told his Chinese counterpart that Greece and China have a shared position on safeguarding sovereignty and territorial integrity as well as upholding the international order.

Singaporean Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan said his country has a clear and consistent commitment to the one-China policy and is opposed to “Taiwan independence” and any unilateral move to change the status quo.

Turkey’s Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu and New Zealand’s Foreign Minister Nanaia Mahuta also reiterated adherence to the one-China principle.

In a meeting with Wang Yi in Phnom Penh on Aug 5, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said US hegemonic policies run counter to the international consensus and will have no future.

Russia is ready to work with China to uphold international law and the purposes and principles of the UN Charter, he said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amir Abdollahian also criticized Pelosi’s visit, saying on Aug 3 that “provocative moves” by the US threaten international peace and stability.

In a statement issued on Aug 2, Cuba’s foreign ministry expressed its firm rejection of the actions aimed at harming China’s territorial integrity and sovereignty, and condemned the US interference in China’s internal affairs.