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| Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi (Left) and US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (Right) [Image: AP] |
Phnom Penh: China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi on Friday warned Washington not to act rashly and to avoid creating a bigger crisis by making another visit of US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to Taiwan.
Speaking at the 55th Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Foreign Ministers’ Meeting, Wang said, “US has no right to make the mistake again of allowing another visit of US House Speaker to Taiwan.”
The statement comes after Nancy Pelosi’s recent Taiwan visit that has heightened tensions in the region.
“US House Representatives Speaker Pelosi had disregarded the strong opposition from China and our repeated communication,” said Wang.
Defending strong Chinese actions in the region, Wang said, “it is only natural that the Chinese side must show our strong opposition.”
PLA dispatched 68 aircraft and 13 vessels until 17:00 (UTC+8) for the activities around Taiwan Strait, part of which had crossed the median line and jeopardized the status quo of the strait.
“Actually, it is under US government’s brazen decision of allowing Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan. This trip has seriously impacted China’s sovereignty, seriously interfered our internal affairs, violate the promise the US had made with China and harmed the Taiwan straits relations,” said Wang.
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Friday said that China’s military drills around Taiwan in response to Pelosi’s visit to the self-ruled island is a disproportionate, unjustified and provocative escalation.
China has been conducting the largest-ever military exercises in the Taiwan Strait, including launching live missiles it claims as part of its sovereign territory.
“There is no justification for this extreme, disproportionate and escalatory military response,” Blinken told a news conference on the sidelines of an ASEAN meeting.
Blinken did not meet with his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi during the regional summit amid the tense situation.
“The differences between the mainland and Taiwan need to be resolved peacefully. Not coercively and not by force, so it is incumbent upon China to continue to resolve those differences peacefully,” Blinken said after Friday’s East Asia Summit.
Reacting to Blinken’s statements, Wang in a briefing after the closing of various ASEAN meetings in the Cambodian capital warned the United States not to act rashly so as to create a bigger crisis.
Wang said that the US had “spread some misinformation”. He said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken did not speak truthfully, so he had to “clear the air”.
“I’ve heard that US Secretary of State Blinken has had held his news conference, and spread some fake news and not speaking truthfully. So all the more it is important for me to clear the air and state the facts,” said Wang.
