NEW DELHI: Annoyed over US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi visit who spoke at the Taiwanese Parliament on Tuesday, China Wednesday summoned the American envoy in Beijing and lodged a stern protest.
According to various reports, China has warned the US side to “pay the price” for its “mistakes” for going ahead with the visit disregarding stern warnings from Beijing. Xie urged the US to immediately address its wrongdoings, take practical measures to rectify the adverse impacts caused by Pelosi’s visit to Taiwan, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Meanwhile, addressing the media, Pelosi said in Taipei that the US supports status quo, but do not want anything to happen to Taiwan by force. She said that America wants Taiwan to have freedom and security. We are not backing away to safeguard that.
The United States must not go further down the wrong path, escalating tensions and making the situation across the Taiwan Strait and China-U.S. relations irreparable, Xie said. He added that the United States should stop playing the “Taiwan card”, stop using Taiwan to contain China in any form, and stop interfering in China’s internal affairs.
He said the U.S. government has indulged rather than restrained Pelosi’s willful act, leading to the escalation of tensions across the Taiwan Strait and seriously undermined the China-U.S. relations.
The United States must take concrete actions to observe the one-China principle and the provisions of the three China-U.S. joint communiques, deliver on the “five noes” commitment made by the U.S. leadership (i.e. not seek a “new Cold War”; not seek to change China’s system; the revitalization of its alliances is not against China; not support “Taiwan independence”; not look for conflict with China), and not go further down the wrong and dangerous path, Xie noted.
“Taiwan is China’s Taiwan, and Taiwan will eventually return to the embrace of the motherland. Chinese people are not afraid of ghosts, pressure and the evil,” Xie said.
The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) launched “massive military drills” around the island of Taiwan that including a long-range live fire drill in the Taiwan Straits and a live fire conventional missile drill to the east of the island soon after Pelosi landed in Taipei on Tuesday night.