This undated photo shows Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi addressing a press conference in Beijing, China. (FENG YONGBIN / CHINA DAILY)
BEIJING – Chinese State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Thursday made clear China's solemn position on media reports that US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi would visit Taiwan.
Wang made the remarks in a phone conversation with Emmanuel Bonne, diplomatic counselor to French President Emmanuel Macron.
Noting that the current international situation is increasingly turbulent, Wang said that on the Ukraine issue, the United States urges respect for sovereignty and territorial integrity of a country, but on the Taiwan question, it openly tramples on the red line of the one-China principle.
If US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a political leader of the United States, knowingly visits Taiwan, it would be a malicious provocation against China's sovereignty and gross interference in China's internal affairs, said State Councilor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi
This is a blatant double standard, he stressed.
Neither Pelosi's office nor authorities in Taiwan have confirmed that the visit would take place, but some media organizations in Japan and Taiwan reported she would do so after she visits Japan this weekend, according to Reuters.
If Pelosi, a political leader of the United States, knowingly visits Taiwan, it would be a malicious provocation against China's sovereignty and gross interference in China's internal affairs, and would send an extremely dangerous political signal to the outside world, Wang said.
If the United States insists on going its own way, China will surely make a firm response and the US side will bear all the consequences, he added.
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Meanwhile, Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian said on Thursday that China will resort to firm and forceful measures if Pelosi visits Taiwan, and the United States will be held accountable for all the consequences that follow.
China has made solemn representations to the US over the possible visit, which, if it happens, would "seriously violate the one-China principle and the three China-US joint communiques, seriously undermine China's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and seriously impact the political foundation of China-US relations", Zhao said at a daily news conference.
The visit would also send an erroneous message to "Taiwan independence" separatist forces, Zhao said, and he urged the US to cancel it immediately.
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Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian at a regular press briefing on Dec 27, 2021. (PHOTO / FMPRC.GOV.CN)
The visit would also send an erroneous message to "Taiwan independence" separatist forces, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian, and he urged the US to cancel it immediately
Ma Xiaoguang, spokesman for the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, said on Thursday that China would not tolerate such a visit and would "strike back firmly" if it takes place.
"We warn Taiwan's Democratic Progressive Party authority to immediately stop seeking 'Taiwan independence' by collaborating with foreign forces," Ma said.
In another development, the Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Thursday that to purposely compare the two fundamentally different topics of the Taiwan question and the Ukraine crisis is "playing with fire" and that those who are doing so "will surely burn themselves".
Responding to threats voiced on Wednesday by US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen and Deputy Secretary of State Wendy Sherman, Zhao said how China addresses the Taiwan question, something left unsolved by the Chinese civil war, is its own domestic affair and that no other countries have any right to interfere.
The root cause of the current tensions across the Taiwan Straits is that the authorities in Taiwan have kept attempting to seek "Taiwan independence" by relying on the US, while some in the US want to use Taiwan to contain China, said Foreign Ministry spokesman Zhao Lijian
"We will work for the prospect of a peaceful reunification with the utmost sincerity and utmost efforts," Zhao said. "But we reserve the option of taking all necessary measures, which are targeted at intervention by foreign forces and the very few 'Taiwan independence' separatists."
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The root cause of the current tensions across the Taiwan Straits is that the authorities in Taiwan have kept attempting to seek "Taiwan independence" by relying on the US, while some in the US want to use Taiwan to contain China, Zhao said.
Also on Thursday, the Ministry of National Defense expressed resolute opposition to the US approving a $95 million missile support package to Taiwan.
Senior Colonel Tan Kefei, a spokesman for the ministry, said the People's Liberation Army will take firm actions to thwart any foreign interference and secession ploy by Taiwan separatists, and safeguard national sovereignty and territorial integrity.
Zhang Zhihao from China Daily contributed to this story.