China Vows to Safeguard Sovereignty After U.S. Lawmakers’ Taiwan Visit
China on Monday vowed to take strong measures to safeguard sovereignty and territorial integrity following a U.S. delegation’s visit to the Taiwan region on Sunday.
U.S. lawmakers led by Senator Ed Markey “overestimated themselves and attempted to challenge the one-China principle,” Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Wang Wenbin said at a press briefing, adding that their attempts were “doomed to fail.”
A five-member U.S. delegation, led by Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts, visited the region on Sunday on the heels of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s trip to the island in early August, which drew strong condemnations and responses from China, including days of live-fire military drills around Taiwan Island.
The visit blatantly violated the one-China principle and the three China-U.S. joint communiqués, violated China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity and sent a serious wrong signal to the “Taiwan Independence” forces, Wang said.
Once again urges the U.S. side to abide the one-China principle and the stipulations of the three China-U.S. joint communiqués, properly handle Taiwan-related issues and stop hollowing out and distorting the one-China principle, so as to avoid further damage to China-U.S. relations, he added.
Noting that the one-China principle is the consensus of the international community and the basic norm governing international relations, Wang said that “the one-China principle is also the political foundation for the establishment of the diplomatic ties and the growth of the China-U.S. relations,” the spokesperson added.
Earlier on Monday, Wu Qian, spokesperson for the Ministry of National Defense, responded that the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) will continue to train and prepare for war and crush any form of “Taiwan independence” secession and foreign interference attempts.
“Taiwan is China’s Taiwan, and the Taiwan question does not allow any foreign interference. We are warning the U.S. and the Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party that ‘using Taiwan to contain China’ is doomed to fail, and ‘relying on the U.S. to seek Taiwan independence’ is self-destructive,” Wu said.
Ma Xiaoguang, spokesperson for the Taiwan Affairs Office of China’s State Council, on Monday also voiced strong opposition to a U.S. congressional delegation’s visit to China’s Taiwan region.
“This erroneous act is a serious violation of the one-China principle and the stipulations of the three China-U.S. joint communiques,” said Ma, adding that Taiwan’s Democratic Progressive Party authorities will receive “more severe blows” if they continue banking on external forces to seek “Taiwan independence.”
